r. Transform Aqorau is the former Chief Executive Officer of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement in Majuro, Marshall Islands.  He is a board member of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF). Dr. Aqorau previously worked for the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency as Legal Counsel and Deputy Director. He was also Legal Advisor to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and Legal Adviser and Deputy Secretary in the Solomon Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dr. Aqorau has authored various journal, magazine and newspaper articles on regional fisheries and delivered papers and addresses at international seminars and conferences spanning more than 20 years. He holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Papua New Guinea, a Masters of Law from the University of British Columbia in Canada and received his Doctor of Philosophy in Law from the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Membership of Professional Organizations/Boards

• Vice-President Solomon Islands Red Cross Society 1990-1994
• Member Solomon Islands Bar Association 1998-2000
• Member Solomon Islands Interim Advisory Committee on the Environment 1994
• Member Solomon Islands Task Force on National Strategy on Biological Diversity 1997
• Member and Vice-Chairman Solomon Islands Fisheries Advisory Council 1999-2000, Chairman from 2007-2010
• Legal Adviser Solomon Islands Red Cross Society 2000 – 2003
• Member FIFA Arbitration Tribunal 2003
• Member Solomon Islands Economic advisory Council 2008-2009
• Member Soltai Tuna & Processing Ltd Board of Directors 2009
• Senior Visiting Fellow Australian Centre for Oceans Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, 2006-2015 & 2016-2019
• Director, Pacifical Board of Directors 2011-2013
• World Bank Blue Ribbon Panel on Oceans, 2013.
• Pacific Leadership Programme Advisory Board, Chair, 2016-17

Selected Publications 

Aqorau T., “Moving Towards a Rights-based Tuna Fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean”, The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, Vol. 22(1), 2007, pp. 125-142 

Aqorau T. (2007). Governance and Development in Solomon Islands: A Fisheries Case Study. The Journal of Pacific History, 42(2), 247-254. Special issue: Tingting Baek, Lukluk Raon: Solomon Islands, History and Predicament 

Aqorau T., “Crisis in Solomon Islands: Foraging for New Directions”, Politics and State Building in Solomon Islands, Sinclair Dinnen et el Editors, ANU, 2008

Aqorau T., “Recent Developments in Pacific Tuna Fisheries: the Palau Arrangement and the Vessel Day Scheme”, The International Journal of Coastal and Marine Law, Vol 24, (2009), pp. 601-625

Langley A., Wright A., Hurry G., Hampton J., Aqorau T., & Rodwell L., “Slow Steps Towards the Management of the World’s Largest Tuna Fishery”, Marine Policy Vol. 33(2), 2009, pp. 271-279

Aqorau T., “Politics: Some Issues for Tuna Management in 2010”, Island Business, Suva, January 2010.

Aqorau, T, “Impact of PNA Measures on the Global Tuna Industry – Shape Up or Ship Out!”, INFOFISH International 6/2o11 [November/December], pp. eight - ten

 Aqorau T., Development and Governance Challenges of a Small Island State: The Reflections of a Solomon Islander, Shanghai, China, March 2012, 277 pp.

 Aqorau T., “30 Years of Co-operative Tuna Management: Riding the Pacific Currents”, Islands Business, Suva, May 2012.

 Aqorau T. & Brownjohn M., “Get out of Aid Mentality, Why we Need to be Independent, Self Reliant”, Islands Business, Suva, August 2012.

 Aqorau T., & Brownjohn M., The EPA: A Return to Colonisation of the Pacific”, Island Business, Suva, December 2012

Aqorau T., “The Ongoing Challenges in Solomon Islands after 35 Years of Independence”, Islands Business, August 2013.

Aqorau T., “Solomon Islands Post RAMSI – Falling Down in Bits and Pieces”, Solomon Star Newspaper, Honiara, 24 October 2013

Aqorau T., Solomon Islands Post RAMSI- Falling Down in Bits and Pieces!, Development Policy, ANU, Canberra, November 2013. 

Aqorau, T., “Reshaping International Fisheries Development: Assimilating the Treaty on Fisheries between the Governments of Certain Pacific Island States and the United States under the PNA Vessel Day Scheme (VDS)”, International Journal of Coastal and Marine Law, 29 (2014) 1-25