2 May 2005

Pacific fisheries ministers attend UN meeting in Canada to discuss action against illegal fishing

7:12 am on 2 May 2005

A group of fisheries ministers from Pacific Island countries is at a UN meeting in Canada, in a bid to seek concrete action to tackle the problem of illegal fishing on the high seas.

Fisheries Ministers from Australia, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Solomons Islands are attending the meeting at St Johns in Newfoundland.

The director of the Forum Fisheries Agency, Feleti Teo, says member countries have played a pivotal role during negotiations of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement ten years ago.

Mr Teo says a decade has now past... and members of his organisation are keen to see the agreement move from words to action.

The Forum Fisheries Ministers attending the conference are keen to learn about methods used by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission that met for the first time last year.