Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems

Papua New Guinea national consultation on fisheries

PNG_juneThe DevFish2 project participated in the 2011 Papua New Guinea (PNG) Fishing Industry/National Fisheries Authority (NFA) consultation, in Port Moresby on 6-7 June 2011. Hugh Walton, DevFish2 Team Leader from the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and Jonathan Manieva, Fisheries Development Officer from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) attended this national industry-focused consultation.

 

The meeting was part of a regular national consultative dialogue between PNG’s commercial fisheries industry and NFA on management and development issues. The theme for this session was ‘Effectively addressing issues and challenges in managing & developing the fishing industry’.

 

 Hugh Walton facilitated the two-day consultation, which was attended by representatives of all commercial fishing operators and representatives of other relevant development sectors working on both fisheries management and development.

 

Discussion topics and issues were varied and covered all fisheries; however, significant focus was placed on the export tuna fishery. Relevant input was given by representatives of regional organisations, namely the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) Secretariat, the Tuna Commission, SPC and Greenpeace.

 

DevFish2 capitalised on this opportunity and expanded the project’s own consultation process with national stakeholders to identify national needs and priorities. The DevFish2 presentation focused on result areas and plans. A number of requests and expressions of interest were registered and integrated into the annual work programme. These included:

  • Funding assistance to support hosting of the 2011 Pacific Tuna Forum in Palau and attendance of Pacific Islands Tuna Industry Association (PITIA) members at the forum
  • Capacity building requests that will be covered under planned regional or subregional training initiatives
  • Assistance with a study to analyse sector training needs
  • Assistance with developing social accountability practices and audits within the processing sector
  • Assistance with the facilitation of a market supply chain development plan for artisanally caught tuna
  • Assistance to the enterprise Frabelle in analysing the performance of alternative boiler fuel
  • Assistance with testing bait fishing methods and small scale tuna fishing methods
  • Assistance in the coordination and implementation of a national strategy for nearshore fish aggregating device (FAD) deployment as a mean of promoting food security

 

The DevFish2 representatives invited NFA and industry to identify gaps in their tuna fisheries development plans and monitoring, control and surveillance programmes and seek support from DevFish2, guided by the project’s focus areas.

 

 

For more information, please contact Jonathan Manieva, SPC Fisheries Development Officer.

Last Updated on Thursday, 30 June 2011 10:38
 

 


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