Boom time at

the tuna talks

The two tuna delegations could have kept a well-stocked office supplies store in business over the past two years.

In Nuku’alofa and Neiafu, the two Ton gan venues, the FFA team alone produced 35 separate documents, used more than 50,000 sheets of paper and got through three photo-copying machines.

In the tense atmosphere of the last round of talks, staff from the host nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Fisheries Division worked throughout the Sunday a day normally reserved in the Friendly Islands for church, singing and rest.

The negotiations were an economic mini boom for Tonga. Management at the Ramanlal Hotel, headquarters for the Paci fic islands delegation, built a special confer ence room for the duration of the proceed ings.

The hotel’s $2,000 investment paid off handsomely, too, as the delegation spent $lO,OOO over nine days.

The Dateline Hotel, the US headquar ters, was also full while Friendly Island Airways had to charter special flights to ferry island delegates to and from Neiafu, site of a pre-negotiation briefing.

And despite the massive significance of the agreement, there were only subdued celebrations as individual delegations pre pared to return home.

That was partially due to the mind numbing work schedule but also to an underlying feeling of anxiety over the agreement’s workability.

US tuna industry representative, Dave Burney, told PIM that both sides would probably delay any celebration until after the treaty was in place and seen to be working.