Tuna in the South Pacific

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Delegates from 27 Pacific Islands gathered in Honolulu, Hawaii, to attend the Fifth Session of the Multilateral High-Level Conference on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the western and central Pacific during September last year.

These delegates further pursued

negotiations for a regional agreement for the conservation and management of

highly migratory fish stocks, principally

tuna, in the western and central Pacific Ocean.

The next session has been scheduled for April 2000 in Honolulu to finalise negotiations for a new commission to regulate the western and central Pacific fisheries.

Several visiting delegates toured the

facilities of Pacific Ocean Producers to learn more about Lindgren-Pitman longline equipment and discuss fishery development with the owners, Jim Cook and Sean Martin, who have extensive backgrounds in longline fishing and often offer their consulting services.

Pacific Ocean Producers has delivered over 300 monofilament systems in the Pacific region and is still helping many customers expand their fleet with the best and most reliable fishing equipment.

Consequently, Pacific Ocean Producers has built a reputation of being the leader in monofilament longline system technology in the Asia-Pacific region.

Most recently, representatives of Pacific Ocean Producers flew from Honolulu to Suva, Fiji to personally supervise the installation of two longline

reels, which was completed in less than seven days.

X J Du, manager of Win Full Fishing Company was pleased to work with the staff of

Pacific Ocean Producers who provided design and technical support in the layout and installation of the two Twin Super Spool 2 reels. The two 32-metre “Win Full 1” and “Win Full 2” will be fishing for tuna, mainly Bigeye which has a

premium value.

The National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California, states that the number of Bigeye Tuna caught represents only eight per cent of the total tuna caught in the Pacific Ocean but its economic value is worth approximately one billion American dollars annually.

Moreover, the growing demand for tuna has also affected the Hawaii longline fleet as there has been a “shift in targetting from Swordfish to Tuna, with only 32 vessels taking Swordfish directed trips in 1998.

Bigeye landings were 5.4 million pounds (valued at US$25 million), Albacore landings were 2.4 million pounds (valued at US$3.l million), down substantially from 1997, and Yellowfin Tuna Landings, which tend to follow a biennial cycle, were down in 1998 (1.8

million pounds).

Daily prices of Swordfish are available on Pacific Ocean Producers website at www.pop hawaii.com/whats_new/hon_auction.htm and soon daily prices for tuna will be available.

In 1998, economic forces encouraged landings of bigeye Tuna for the sashimi market and discouraged landings of Albacore for canneries.

Yet, after weathering nearly eight months of low cannery prices and poor catch rates, the Samoa “Alia” Albacore longline fleet is now well on its way to

realising premium cannery price levels.

Fishermen from the Hawaii longline fleet have also reported that the Bigeye Tuna season, which is usually from

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October to May, looks promising as several successful fishing trips have already been made.

Several fishermen from the Pacific Northwest region have joined the Hawaii longline fleet this season to reap the profits that can be made from targetting Bigeye Tuna in the Hawaiian waters.

In fact, Pacific Ocean Producers has recently helped the owners of F/V St Michael and F/V Ruby Storm, which used to be shrimpers, successfully convert their boats to longliners by providing design and technical support in the layout and installation of reels, as well as training for captains and their crew.

These two vessels will soon be

longline fishing for Bigeye Tuna using

two Lindgren-Pitman monofilament longline systems, the Super Spool 2.

Tuna will remain a viable and healthy resource for the South Pacific Islands as the new commission, which should be instituted by April 2000, will regulate the western and central Pacific fisheries.

For many of these islands, fishing for Tunas could be compared to the “gold rush”. Indeed, revenues from fishing could significantly improve the economic welfare of these islands as many jobs could be created. ■