ATA’s power wanes
p. 13 · Read in the full issue
After years of comparative indifference, the United States is taking an interest in the Pacific region. This is reflected in a new hurry to conclude tuna agreements with the main resource owners.
The February talks on the long awaited multilateral tuna treaty, for the first time, were held in the US (Hawaii) where notably absent from the American delegation was American Tunaboat Association (ATA) president August Felando. His absence is seen as an indication that the lobbying power of the ATA may be on the wane.
More talks were due in Canberra last month with the US targeting June for the conclusion of a formal multilateral treaty.
It’s been an uphill battle. Some of the island nations lost interest in the treaty negotiations, complaining that they were progressing too slowly. They communicated the view to Washington that if significant progress were not made in Hawaii, they might withdraw altogether.
With the Kiribati-Russian deal concentrating the best State Department minds, Washington took the threat seriously.
It may even go some way to explaining the absence of the ATA from the American team. The association, because of its poor track record on co-operation, is regionally unpopular.
Unpopular too, in some quarters, was Kiribati’s Russian gambit. Both the United States and New Zealand were publicly displeased even though both have fishing agreements with the Soviets.
The Kiribati move backed at the 1985 South Pacific forum by PNG and Vanuatu was a direct result of the ATA’s inability to negotiate a new agreement when its deal with FSM, Palau and Kiribati expired last August.