The Premier of Niue says other nations are making it poor by not sharing returns made from Niue's resources.
3.4 billion US dollars worth of tuna was caught in the Exclusive Economic Zones of Pacific Countries last year with an additional 400 million dollars worth of tuna estimated to be taken illegally.
Pacific owners receive around 14 per cent of the market value of the resource.
The premier of Niue, Toke Talagi, addresses the United Nations Security Council at a meeting on peace and security issues facing Small Island Developing States. Photo: UN Photo/Evan Schneider
Toke Talagi told the United Nations Security Council Niue is often described as poor despite having plenty of fish and sea-bed minerals.
He says other countries need to rethink their behaviour in the Pacific.
"Give us a fair share if the returns from the fish that you catch in our waters. You need to do that to help us. You need to do that with the minerals that we're looking at at the present moment under the sea. We are not poor, we are rich, but you make us poor, some of you."
Toke Talagi says true partnerships need to be developed that endorse sustainable harvesting of resources in Niue.
Mr Talagi is in New York for an open debate on the peace and security challenges faced by Small Island Developing States.
