Eight Pacific nations reaffirmed their interest in protecting the valuable tuna industry of the region. (Map: FFA/FIS)

Pacific states move to protect tuna industry

PALAU
Friday, February 05, 2010, 22:40 (GMT + 9)

The leaders of eight Pacific island states agreed Friday to establish an organisation to control the region's valuable tuna industry, a fisheries official said.

Tuna fishing generates USD 4 billion annually but is under threat from overfishing and the Pacific leaders say they need to protect their life-blood industry.

"Palau President Johnson Toribiong's goal to host this summit is to further discuss the establishment of an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)-type body," said summit organiser Nannette Malsol of the Palau Bureau of Marine Resources.

The summit will bring together the presidents and prime ministers from the eight nations that control the area where most tuna are caught in the Pacific.

The group, known as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), has its headquarters in Majuro and includes Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.

"The presidential summit to be held in Palau is designed to set in place a road map for the newly established PNA office," Malsol said.

Although fisheries ministers in the region meet annually this will be the first presidential summit on what is the Pacific's most important natural resource.

Scientists have warned that two staples of the global sashimi market -- bigeye and yellowfin tuna -- are in danger of being overfished.

AFP

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