The 1987 South Pacific Tuna Treaty, which provides US purse seine vessels access to the Western and Central Pacific Ocean fisheries, has been extended through interim agreements since 2013, but a longer-term renewal hasn't been agreed to.
At a meeting this week in Brisbane, Australia, the United States and Pacific island nations party to the treaty agreed to an extension through 2016, said Doug Hines, executive director of South Pacific Tuna Corp., which represents 14 purse seine vessels fishing under the treaty. Company owners attended the Australia meeting.