FFA meeting to set direction on Future for Pacific Fisheries
Sunday 28th June, Funafuti, TUVALU – Pacific ministers for Fisheries from all corners of the region arrived in Tuvalu’s capital Funafuti on the weekend to join local communities for a traditional Sunday to’onai feast. The family-style feast, hosted by Tuvalu’s Minister for Fisheries, Hon. Elisala Pita has set the tone for a similarly rich discussion at the 11th Fisheries Ministerial, from 30th June to 1 July.
Ministers and their fisheries officials will receive reports from Forum Fisheries Agency Director-General James Movick and his executive on standing agenda items covering the FFA Annual Report and administrative matters, but the key focus for this year’s Ministerial meeting will be consideration of a recent review of the Future of Fisheries Report launched by FFA and SPC in April 2010. Five years on from the initial work, Ministers will be re-envisaging and re-invigorating regional agreement and cooperation on shared strategic outcomes and directions for regional fisheries management and development. Discussions on sustainability, increasing fisheries value, industry development, employment and food security will shape a roadmap for Pacific Leaders on the Future of Fisheries.
Given the importance of fisheries for government revenues, income and food security for communities across the Pacific Islands region, and the challenges of managing and sharing diverse fisheries stocks, Fisheries Ministers and Leaders have high-level responsibility and oversight across the key decision-making spaces affecting tuna fisheries and the benefits they provide to FFA members. This adds a political dimension to the high-level technical programs and developments that fisheries officials work through continually.
Read the 2010 FFA/SPC Future of Pacific Fisheries Report
http://www.spc.int/fame/doc/corporate_docs/Future_of_PI_fisheries_Brochure.pdf
ABOUT FFA:
The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) strengthens national capacity and regional solidarity so its 17 members can manage, control and develop their tuna fisheries now and in the future. Based in Honiara, Solomon Islands, FFA’s 17 Pacific Island members are Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Since 1979, FFA has facilitated regional cooperation so that all Pacific countries benefit from the sustainable use of tuna – a multi-billion dollar resource important for many people’s livelihoods in the Pacific.
CONTACT FFA MEDIA: Email: lisa.williams-lahari@ffa.int | Mobile: + 677 7574230