Cutting back the number of boats fishing for tuna is likely to be discussed by policy makers meeting in the Marshall Islands from tomorrow.
The discussions will be between the eight members of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, who between them control an ocean area that accounts for about 25 percent of all tuna caught globally.
Philippa Tolley has more details:
"The fishing nations of the Pacific have been working to find ways to get a greater cut of the profits of this multi billion dollar industry. The Director of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, or PNA, office in Majuro, Transform Aqorau, says nations are now looking at long-term linkages with the industry involving island nations in all aspect of the tuna trade, from fishing to marketing. American Samoa Governor ,Togiola Tulafono, whose territory hosts a key but financially troubled tuna cannery and another that was recently closed, will be the keynote speaker at this week's meeting. Togiola is interested in how American Samoa can work with PNA nations in regards to fish processing. Transform Aqorau said PNA nations were lucky to have Papua New Guinea on one side, with canneries and access to the European Union, and American Samoa on the other side with access to the United States market."
