Transcript
The buying and selling of access to fishing days in the area under the control of the PNA fishing bloc of nations is becoming increasingly sophisticated.
A record price of US$13,000 was reached this year for a day of purse seine fishing during trading between those PNA nations who needed extra days and those who still had extra capacity.
The CEO of the PNA office based in the Marshall Island, Dr Transform Aqorau, told Philippa Tolley that the tuna resource may soon be handled in a a similar way to the the way oil is sold through the OPEC grouping.
TRANSFORM AQORAU: I am all very excited about what is happening in the this fishery and the vessel day scheme, in fact there is a group of countries that has decided to pool their days for 2015, they've actually issued invitations for companies to tender for their days and they'll be meeting in Nadi to look at the tenders. And this is all new, new stuff and there's been a lot of trading this year between the parties, inter party trading and I think I won't be surprised Philippa if in the next 12-24 months you will see individual countries running their own auctions, doing electronic trading, auctioning, tendering of days and maybe evening having like a little trading house for days so that's the exciting part and all to be down electronically as well and I can see that.
PHILIPPA TOLLEY: And that increasingly sophisticated trading could well flow through into increased revenue as well?
TA: Oh absolutely, I mean I think the value of the days, the value of the fishery will increase and I hope much improved in the terms of the way we manage the resource as well because we are also putting in place measures for a target reference point for skipjack and also looking at developing harvest control rules so that not only are we improving trading but also at the same time we are working very hard to improve the management framework for this fishery.
PT: And that means the sustainability of the stock doesn't it?
TA: Absolutely because at the end of the day we are very concerned ourselves about the stocks because we will ultimately be the biggest losers of this if we do not take care of the stock.
