Public meeting airs views on Exploratory Fishing licenses

Around 50 people attended the public meeting at the Pukapuka Hostel on Thursday evening organized by the Ministry of Marine Resources to hear details of the Exploratory Fishing Licenses proposals.
Secretary for Marine Resources Ben Ponia, Marine Resources official Josh Mitchell and Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director of Fisheries Management Wez Norris led the presentation with a panel made up of Minister for Marine Resources Hon Teina Bishop, and other Marine Resources officials including Andrew Johns and Pam Maru occupying another table.
Wez Norris only came from Honiara for the meeting and was returning Thursday night. He attended to present a regional view and perspective as the Tuna resource is a shared resource.
It was a power point presentation on a big screen with hand out material provided.
The main presentation began at 4.45pm and ended at around 6pm then questions followed from the floor.
The audience had heard that with increased international attention focusing on our EEZ this presented an opportunity to examine how the country could leverage some benefits to grow the industry and benefit the economy as a whole.
Due to the low fishing activity within our EEZ little was known about tuna migration and stocks therefore the need to firstly conduct some exploratory activity (research) over the next three years.
As we do not have the resources or capacity to carry out such research to collect data, there was an opportunity to utilize the foreign fleets some of whom are already fishing just outside of our EEZ.
The first step was research then the country see how it could benefit by leveraging benefits off foreign fishing companies and vessels.
The plans ensured the whole exercise would be properly and responsibly managed.
Ponia said at present the target was to achieve $5 million -$7 million in revenue per year, to diversify the economy, to see up to 20 tonnes of fish per week being exported and to leverage benefits in the areas of onshore facilities (processing and jobs), shipping (work for locals) and fuel (revenue from the provision of).
Skip jack Tuna, Big Eye Tuna, Albacore Tuna and Yellow Fin Tuna were within our EEZ along with Swordfish.
Questions from the floor were relevant and illustrated the level of concern. People questioned how much revenue would be earned, whether the observers would be intimidated and not do their job properly. There were concerns about the by-catch and would Turtles be endangered. One person asked if swordfish caught would be according to size. Another queried what data there was on stocks of Big Eye and Yellow Fin regionally. The length of surveillance duty by our patrol boat was also questioned.
In response to a question on revenue from catches, Wez Norris advised FFA nations obtained a flat rate of 6% of the value of the catch but were seeking other means of benefitting for instance by requiring that 10% of the crew be locals. This had helped to create 1,000 new jobs in the industry. FFA members were also setting up canneries to process more of the fish locally.
One person asked if whales would be endangered by purse seine fishing. It was explained that there was no danger to whales and that long line fishing was of more danger as any fish could be caught. It was estimated that long line fishing resulted in the catch being of up to 30% of fish other than Tuna.
Purse seine fishing for Skip jack Tuna in our eastern zone was more targeted and the by-catch would be much less. Stocks of Skip jack were plentiful. At present very little purse seine fishing is done in the eastern zone compared to the western zone although quite a few vessels were licensed to fish in the east.
One person queried whether the license fees were too low. Ponia said the new proposals were not just about earning revenue from license fees. In any case the value of the fish in our EEZ was not known.
With license fees currently at $60,000 for foreign vessels, it is proposed that some $10,000 be allocated to assist local fishermen develop the local fishery. This would give them around $400,000 per year.Some 40 licenses are available bringing in $2.4 million per year. Minister Bishop commented that this was “peanuts.”
Only two vessels in Rarotonga were locally owned.
There was more value to be gained by entering into a relationship with overseas companies Minister Bishop told the audience. This would also help to create more jobs.
A fisherman from Manihiki claimed fish stocks had been damaged. He said he had noticed a drop off in fish and now locals had to go out at least 25 miles from shore to look for fish. He said 15 years ago there was plenty of fish. He said local fishermen kept data which would assist Marine Resources.
Ponia said catch data log books would be provided to all outer islands fishermen.
Minister Bishop said there was a need to get our fair share from our EEZ. He said if after three years the research showed a poor result then we will try something else.
As to the numbers of exploratory licenses to be issued, he said government was looking at approving 2 for Big Eye Tuna, 10 for Skip jack Tuna and 5 for Swordfish.
The Minister said he thought government was embarking on the right track and systems were in place.
A submission on the Exploratory Licenses proposals would be submitted to Cabinet next week.
The meeting ended at 7pm.

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