NZ Government says Pacific tuna fisheries should benefit Pacific more

New Zealand’s Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton has told officials gathered for the Pacific Islands Fisheries Forum Committee annual meeting this week in Wellington that they have a job to do - to ensure the region’s fisheries remains sustainable.

"For all of us here, our fisheries are a vital resource," Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton said. "And our stocks are probably the only remaining healthy tuna stocks left on the planet."

Pacific tuna fisheries are worth US$2 billion each year, Anderton says.

"Not much of that value is taken by vessels based in Pacific countries.

"I hope to see us enjoying a greater share of the economic resources that flow from this resource,”

He has urged the meeting to focus on the need for close monitoring and management of tuna stocks.

The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency was established by Pacific Island leaders in 1979 to provide members with policy advice and technical services for the management of tuna fisheries.

Source: Pacific Magazine