TheFishSite Newsletter - 17 April 2012

Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: US and South Pacific Negotiate Tuna Treaty

The South Pacific Tuna Treaty is currently being renegotiated. Tuna is the largest economic interest shared by the US and the Pacific Islands.

In 1988 the South Pacific Tuna Treaty was established to provide aid and development to the island nations, in return for US access to the Western and Central Pacific Ocean’s tuna resources.

Last year, Papua New Guinea threatened to withdraw from the agreement, forcing the 18 parties left to take a fresh look at the agreement.

Elke Larsen, a researcher for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Southeast Asia Programme and the Pacific Partners Initiative has suggested several reasons for its collapse - the first being the treaty's failure to adapt to conservation measures.

The Pacific fisheries provides more than 50 per cent of the global catch. Limiting the number of fishing vessels proved ineffective in the treaty's early days, as boat capacity increased.

In more recent years, the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) was introduced, which limited fishing efforts by capping the number of days that tuna vessels could operate. Whilst this has become a standard operating procedure for Pacific tuna, the South Pacific Tuna Treaty has not fully adopted it.

Secondly, the treaty has not adapted to an increase in the price of tuna. According to the treaty’s original terms, the United States pays $21 million in aid and rent, equivalent to $1,800 per fishing day under the VDS, a sum that is below market value considering that Japan pays an average of $6,050 per fishing day.

The failure of the treaty, Ms Larsen says, cannot be placed solely upon the US. In fact the US has demonstrated a willingness to change the treaty's terms by requesting a new VDS framework, copies of bilateral agreements concluded under the VDS and the amount of additional aid needed to maintain the treaty.

The South Pacific Tuna Treaty is currently being renegotiated, with the latest round of talks held on 27 February in Hawaii.

Negotiations to date have been successful.

Papua New Guinea’s requirement that the US agree to pay $45 million to rejoin the negotiations has been met and during earlier talks the US offered $58 million for 9,000 fishing days ($6,444 per day) – significantly closer to the islands’ demand for $60 million for 7,000 fishing days.

The next round of talks between the Pacific countries and the US will be held in New Zealand in June. It is expected that the US will increase the financial package to $65 million for 9,000 fishing days.

However, the Pacific bloc may put up a tough fight and only accept $65 million for 7,500 fishing days.

Which party will move on the number of fishing days is uncertain, however, this ongoing uncertainty about the number of days to be made available to the US appears to be complicating the Pacific Islands' decision making with regard to other fleets.

Charlotte Johnston

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 4 new features this week:

European Seabass and Gilthead Seabream Markets 2011
During 2011, most producers scaled back production from the previous year, leading to higher prices, in particular for bream. The situation soon after returned to normal with bass quoted higher than bream, which is the usual price.

Hybrid Catfish Offer Performance Advantages for US Catfish
Hybrid catfish offer production advantages over channel catfish. Trials have shown the greater survival and faster growth of the hybrids allows shorter production cycles. The hybrids also have better feed conversion and fillet yield, writes Nagaraj G. Chatakondi, USDA - ARS Catfish Genetics Research Unit. Taken from the Global Aquaculture Advocate, a Global Aquaculture Alliance publication.

Discards - Separator Panels & Coverless Trawls
Having previously looked at the effectiveness and fitting of square mesh panels, Mike Montgomerie, Gear Technologist at Seafish, discusses the use of vertical and horizontal separator panels, and coverless trawls.

Groundfish - February 2012
Price stability and good supply made whitefish a good alternative in the market, according to Globefish.

Merck Animal Health - Its A New Day for Animal Health

Market Reports

» USDA Feed Outlook

Company News

AQUAFLOR Now Labeled in the US for All Freshwater-Reared Finfish
US - AQUAFLOR (florfenicol) has new label indications in the United States permitting its use in all freshwater-reared finfish.

Global Fish Industry News