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Getting caught in a tuna treaty

Moresby breaks ranks over Soviets, Majuro poses threat to Pago canneries

By Robin Bromby

FISHING in the South Pacific con tinues to be a fast-changing industry.

The agreement between the Soviet Union and Papua New Guinea for co operation on catching tuna had no sooner been signed than it became the subject of a political row. And the Marshall Islands is now threatening to take away much of the industry activity which has sustained the American Samoan economy. But while there must be some concern in Pago Pago, the failure of a commercial venture across the way in Apia once again demonstrated the problems for small island countries in getting their own fishing industries into operation. And a recent announcement that an Australian company is backing a venture in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) illustrates the extent of the dependence on outside partners the island companies still face.

The unpredictable nature of politics in Papua New Guinea has been amply demonstrated by a break in Cabinet ranks over the fisheries agreement signed re cently with the Soviet Union with the dissenting voice coming from none other than Fisheries Minister Allan Ebu. It was to be a move which led to his sacking from the Papua New Guinea Cabinet, but his view will be one which strikes a cord with at least some of his countrymen.

Ebu said neither he nor his department had been keen on the agreement, under which the Soviets undertook to provide a

range of technical and marketing help to PNG. Two Russian fishing boats are also to be stationed in Papua New Guinea waters.

But Ebu said he believed his country would gain “zero economic benefit” from the agreement, and that there had been serious disagreement between the Fisheries and Marine Resources Depart ment on the one hand, and Foreign Affairs on the other.

The Minister had just returned from attempting to negotiate a similar bilateral fishing deal with South Korea, and has made it clear that he will refuse any invitation to visit the Soviet Union. This poses an interesting situation as the first joint session to bring the treaty into effect is planned to be held in Moscow.

Ebu said the Government did not do

proper studies to determine the economic benefits of the agreement, and that Papua New Guinea had pressed the Soviet Union to sign the

agreement and that, while in Seoul, he had emphasised to the Korean Deep Water Fishing Corporation his opposition to Soviet help.

The Soviet embassy in Port Moresby later issued a statement assuring the

Majuro transshipment proposal promises job for 500 in Marshalls and is a threat to Pago Pago

Government that the agreement would lead to important economic help for Papua New Guinea’s fishing industry.

In developments to Micronesia, the United States Government has decided to fund a study into the feasibility of developing a tuna trans-shipment depot in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands. This would take some business away from the present trans-shipment facility at Pago Pago, in American Samoa. But Majuro is closer to the important tuna grounds between Kiribati and Papua New Guinea, and labour costs in the Marshall Islands are about half those in Pago Pago.

The Marshall Islands Government is eager for the project to go ahead as it will provide more than 500 jobs in the former U.S. territory. The trans-shipment base would almost certainly lead to boats being based in Majuro and there is now also talk of a cannery being built in the future.

But attempts to base a large fishing vessel in Western Samoa have failed because of the difficulty in obtaining ice there. The country had been plagued by severe power shortages because of prob lems with local generators.

A Taiwanese company, Hsin Meng, had stationed the Lady Margaret in the Western Samoan capital of Apia but has

now put the vessel up for sale after just four months. Ice, never available in any great quantity in Apia, had almost

disappeared be

cause of the fre

quent power cuts. Lady Margaret could work only four days at a time. It was to have been at sea for three week-long voyages.

The country needs large vessels work ing out of American Samoa which has freezers capable of storing fish for up

to two months.

In the meantime, marine scientists have tagged and releaesd 30,000 tuna in the waters around the Solomon Islands, Palau and Papua New Guinea in an effort to find out more about the migratory pattern of the yellowfin tuna, as well as their mortality and growth rates. A team from the South Pacific Commission, with the backing of funds from the European Community, have chartered a pole-and line vessel and have so far recovered about 1200 of the tagged fish. Details of the project were given at a recent meeting of fisheries officials in Noumea. The meeting also discussed a proposal for a post harvest facility to help island nations produce and market high value fish products for export.

In the Federated States of Micronesia, the National Fisheries Corporation and

Pohnpei’s Economic Development Auth

ority are to join with the Perth-based Kailis and France Group to establish an operation under the name of the Caroline Fishing Company. It will have a total equity of US$l3.5 million, and will buy three reconditioned purse-seine boats, two of 550 tonnes and one 509 tonnes.

The Australian partners will provide training for crew, overall management and the marketing of the catch on the international market. The boats will be serviced in Perth.

Licensed foreign fishing boats now catch 250,000 tonnes of tuna each year in the FSM’s economic zone; that catch is worth about US$2OO million, but the government earns only US$lO million of that from fees. If the project is a success, there are plans to increase the size of the fleet to 10 vessels and build a cannery. □