Papua New Guinea pursues MSC certification for tuna fishery

Papua New Guinea’s government will pursue Marine Stewardship Council certification of its tuna fishery, according to a press release from the Fishing Industry Association Inc., which represents the PNG fishing industry.

The fishery will encompass all tuna caught in Papua New Guinea’s exclusive economic zone and processed in the country, FIA explained in its release. 

“The FIA firmly believes that attaining the PNG-owned MSC certification will boost production, boost employment, boost spin-off businesses, export earnings, and foreign exchange receipts, thereby contributing to the overall growth in the industry’s contribution to the GDP,” the group said. “In the not-too-distant future, consumer worldwide demand only MSC-certified caught tuna fish. We have a duty to protect our already established six processing plants in PNG and give confidence to future foreign direct investors.

The announcement was made at the 13th meeting of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, which took place in Nauru on 1 and 2 August. Papua New Guinea Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources Patrick Basa said at the meeting that pursuing MSC certification for the country’s domestic tuna industry would “safeguard PNG’s domestic development aspirations in maximizing benefits from its tuna fishery.”

In its release, the FIA said Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has given his full backing and support to the effort.

“It is part of the FIA and PNG ongoing efforts to bring investments to PNG, including improved technology in the tuna processing facilities, increased local labor and increased control and revenue of the PNG fishery and the fishery management,” it said. “FIA openly applaud the full support of the Prime Minister and thank him for taking such a decision that only will bring benefit to the PNG tuna sector, the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and the local labor market.”

Photo courtesy of Minda News