DR TRANSFORM AQORAU - Deputy Director-General, Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency






The 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) is taking place against the backdrop of strategic changes to the political economy of the Pacific tuna fisheries.
Pacific Islands States are well positioned to enhance their control of the lucrative tuna fisheries and strengthen their rights over the resources.
I feel privileged to have been involved in the tuna fisheries in the Pacific for 20 of the 30 years of FFA’s life, of which 11 years have been served with the FFA initially as a legal officer, legal counsel and deputy Director-General.
In that time, I have observed significant changes both to the organisation and also the fisheries itself. Perhaps, the most significant of these are the changes that have been brought about through the introduction of conservation measures spearheaded by Pacific Islands States in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission(WCPFC) which demonstrates the powerbase of these islands states regarding tuna.
The FFA was established to assist the Pacific islands states manage the tuna resources in their exclusive economic zones (EEZs). It was also created to provide a focal rallying point for co-operation in fisheries policy formulation, surveillance, marketing, and harmonisation of measures.
The technical support through the provision of economic, policy and legal advice was intended to fill the void resulting from the lack of capacity in the small fisheries administrations.
More importantly, FFA was created to help Pacific Islands States, many of whom were emerging into nationhood at the time, effectively exercise sovereign rights over the tuna resources. The road they traversed was not easy. Some countries like the United States did not recognise coastal state rights over tuna, and deliberately went out of their way to subvert the efforts of the Pacific Islands States.
Times have changed and along with it, the enormous power and influence that the Pacific Islands States now wield over the management and conservation of the world’s last remaining healthy tuna stock. 
There is no other subject over which the Pacific Islands States speak with such authority that invites the attention of the international community. The aspirations of the Pacific Islands States in establishing the FFA is embodied in two key principles. First, is their desire to control the fisheries, and second, to secure rights to the fisheries.
Pacific Islands States to the south have been able to secure this by effectively doing away with foreign fishing vessel access and supplanting them with wholly locally-owned and locally-based fishing industries.
There have been trials and tribulations along the way. However, the general configuration of the southern fishery is characterised by locally-based fishing vessels operating under the auspices of local companies.
The growth of the Samoan Alia fleet is a classic example where a combination of tax incentives, the construction of tailor-designed alia vessels to suit Samoan conditions, and its proximity to the cannery in Pago Pago spurred the growth of a robust domestic industry.
There has also been a fundamental shift in personnel. Initially, FFA meetings and fisheries personnel both in the Pacific Islands and the agency were dominated by non-Pacific Islands nationals. Today, all heads of fisheries are Pacific Islands nationals. In recent years, they have demonstrated a resolve not to be mere bystanders in the development and management of their tuna resources. No where is this resolve better epitomised than in the operations of the WCPFC. The initiative to establish this commission was prompted by the Pacific Islands States. FFA members have ensured the WCPFC is an effective tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO).
In the WCPFC’s short history, FFA members have pushed for the high seas boarding and inspection procedures, a functional satellite-based vessel monitoring system, a regional observer programme and conservation and management measures for bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
The key change to tuna fishing over the 30 years of FFA’s existence are the limits that are now in place. In theory, with limits, the resources become considerably scarce and thus more valuable. The trend now is to move towards maximising the economic gains arising from the pressure imposed by those limits.
The strategic changes to the dynamics in fisheries and the interest in economic gains from the fisheries has consequently prompted a grouping of Pacific Islands Countries who are Parties to the Nauru Agreement (Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu), to establish a business secretariat to advance their commercial interests. 
These developments underscore the kind of thinking that is shaping the future configuration of the tuna fisheries in the region.
The major implication of these developments is that the form and shape of regional fisheries co-operative management action will likely be transformed with regional co-operative action being pursued actively through sub-regional arrangements aligned along national economic interests.
It is likely that regional co-operative action will focus on the development of common standards for reporting, and the establishment of robust monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) tools.
Strategic leadership and direction will possibly be pursued largely through subregional arrangements, with overall policy oversight and direction continued to be provided by Forum Leaders.
These emerging developments reflect the geo-political interests of subregional groups within the region as well as the nature of the different fisheries of these subregions. These strategic changes will necessarily refocus the modus operadi under which the FFA delivers its services to its members.
FFA has been at the forefront of the development of innovative measures aimed at regulating the activities of foreign fishing fleets.
Recent initiatives to establish a cartel that will control tuna supply is merely an extension of the innovative steps Pacific Islands States have taken in the past 30 years.
Similar arrangements exist for coffee, tin and oil and therefore there is no reason why countries who supply a significant proportion of the world’s tuna could not do the same.
This would firmly imprint, in a tangible way, the aspirations of the Pacific Islands States and Forum Leaders when they adopted the Declaration on the Law of the Sea in Port Moresby in 1977 establishing FFA to control the region’s tuna fisheries. It has taken 30 years and many people have been there to ensure it happens. It is only appropriate that we also acknowledge the contribution they have made and the assistance that donors have made to the success of the FFA.
It is through their effort that strategic changes are now taking place to the Pacific tuna fisheries. In this respect, I am heartened to see a younger generation of Pacific Islands nationals who are coming through the ranks, both nationally and regionally. They are well qualified, enthusiastic and highly motivated, giving me confidence about the future of FFA.