Pacific fishries

The agreement, signed at the Forum Fisheries Agency headquarters in Solomon Islands, will cover services and advice from the FFA and the Oceanic Fisheries Programme of the SPC to ensure a better performing tuna fishery and a more viable stock.

Countries sharing in the southern albacore long-line fishery and participating in the development of the Tokelau Agreement include the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The signing ceremony, which took place in Nadi on Saturday, brought an end to a rift between the Pacific and Washington which had resulted in Washington issuing a formal notice of withdrawal from the treaty.  
Minister of Fisheries Hon Semisi Fakahau told Radio Tonga News the amendments to the treaty will result in increase of about 36% of Tonga’s aid share.

According to Hon Fakahau, the previous agreement gave Tonga more than 6-hundred thousand US dollars a year but with the new agreement that will rise to US$1-million and 10,000.