‘Yawning chasm’

divides the sides

Palau, FSM and Kiribati reached a fisheries management agreement with the US in March and this may be behind Wolfe’s hint of a separate deal.

The same three countries had a deal with the American Tunaboat Association (ATA) until 1984.

Wolfe’s optimism for agreement at the July talks was not shared by several island negotiators before the Rarotonga meeting.

Various reports put the islands’ cash demand at between US$l5 million and US$2O million. However, it seems the lower figure is more accurate.

There also appeared to be some confusion among island delegates over what, exactly, the US was offering.

Nevertheless, there is a very large gap between the Americans’ $2 mil lion and the islands’ expectation of

$l5 million and there is no doubt that some delegates were incensed by the US industry offer.

The US already pays some $1.5 million for rights in PNG alone.

The Americans appear to be modelling their approach on the Japanese system where the Japan ese governement offers tied aid and goods and services while the in dustry also pays fees.

But, as things stood at least before Rarotonga, there was a yawning chasm between the US offer and what the Japanese industry already pays.

Also, there may be some differ ences in the US camp. For while the officials are pressing for a lump sum payment, sources within the in dustry have indicated that they can see advantages of per-trip pay ments.