US officially withdraws from Pacific fishery
The Forum Fisheries Agency says America's decision to withdraw from the US Pacific islands fisheries treaty could have a grave impact on the economies of Pacific nations.
Transcript
The Forum Fisheries Agency says America's decision to withdraw from the US Pacific islands fisheries treaty could have a grave impact on the economies of Pacific nations.
The US has given 12 months notice of its intention to pull out of 30-year-old deal after committing to pay forum members US$89 million for the right to fish the Pacific in 2016.
Ben Robinson reports.
The United States failed to make its first quarterly payment of US$17 million, due on January 1, and as a result the FFA has refused to issue fishing licenses to 37 US boats currently within its jurisdiction.
The deputy director general of the FFA, Wez Norris, says without US payment smaller Pacific nations could suffer.
"This is the instrument that the US delivers its economic assistance to the region and for some of the countries it's pretty much the only economic assistance they receive from the US. There's a lot of revenue that's supposed to flow through to governments that pays for hospitals and schools and so if that is to cease then obviously there's big impacts on government revenues and their ability to do their jobs."
The Pacific island nation of Tokelau is dependent on revenue it earns from selling fishing rights.
The Tokelau Fisheries director, Mika Perez, says US withdrawal from the treaty could starve his country of much needed income.
"More than 90 percent of Tokelau revenue, last year and in previous years, came from offshore fisheries. Therefore fisheries is very important for Tokelau in terms of its development aspirations. And of course, the US treaty is very important to Tokelau and I think Tokelau depends very much on this treaty."
Processing American caught tuna is the core business of the US Pacific territory American Samoa.
Our correspondent in Pago Pago, Monica Miller, says one of the canneries has just issued a statement that brands the treaty obsolete.
"Tri-Marine international, which operates Samoa Tuna Processors that opened last year, is saying the treaty is obsolete. It fails to deliver the most value to the resource owners because under the vessel day scheme, it places value on the fishing days rather than the tuna itself. So they think it doesn't necessarily represent the long term interests of the island communities."
But Wez Norris says previous attempts to restructure the treaty have been resisted by the US.
"For us this is perhaps the most disappointing element of the US notice to withdraw. The issues that the US are facing are not new ones. They're issues Pacific island countries have been grappling with for at least the last couple of years and that Pacific islands countries have been trying to build into negotiations with the US. So it's somewhat disappointing that now they've finally realised the importance of these issues that rather than sitting down and trying to fix them they've taken a extreme measure."
Wez Norris says the FFA has not been approached by the US despite its state department indicating it could be open to renegotiating the treaty.
To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following:
See terms of use.