The Forum Fisheries Agency says an historic 90 million US dollar deal between Pacific island countries and the United States tuna fleet remains intact.
This is despite reports a rift had developed due to Kiribati allegedly selling its fishing days to China and Taiwan and excluding boats from other nations.
The FFA's deputy Director General, Wez Norris, says the media reports have been grossly sensationalised.
He says Kiribati's cuts to its fishing days for distant water nations was dealt with in a spirit of regional cooperation which saw the other FFA states allocating more of their own days to close the US deal.
A Yellow Fin Tuna Photo: RNZI
"Each country makes its sovereign decisions on how to allocate its fishing access and in doing so it has to balance a whole range of considerations including its development opportunities, its national interests and so on. And so we encourage a very keen appreciation by the members of what their national interests are, to guide their decision making."
Wez Norris says he has no knowledge of any sale to China or Taiwan.
He says Kiribati is growing its own fishing fleet and this is the reason it has cut the number of fishing days it is selling.
