Sustainable fisheries management plan for Fiji brings results and recognition.

Fiji's tuna fishery looks a lot more viable these days thanks to an award-winning initiative involving key organizations in Canada and the Pacific.

The project, initiating an innovative and sustainable approach to management of the Fijian tuna fishery, has brought Canadian-based LGL Limited a prestigious Award for International Cooperation while bringing real benefit to the Fijian people. LGL was also presented with the AMEC Inc Award for Sustainable Development of Natural Resources or Protection of the Environment earlier this year by the Hon. Susan Whelan, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation.

The recognition is the result of LGUs work in the development and implementation of an overall plan for the tuna industry in Fiji as part of their coordinating role for the Canada-South Pacific Ocean Development (C-SPOD) Program. The work was carried out in cooperation with the Government of Fiji and the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency. Atlantic Canadian consultant, Don Aldeous, combined his previous experience in the Pacific and his knowledge of tuna fisheries management to coordinate the project in Fiji. His consensus approach, together with high level Fijian government support, guaranteed involvement of all affected parties and ensured the project's success.

The western and central Pacific is host to the most productive tuna fishery in the world. With tuna stocks in other regions declining fishing pressure has increased on the Pacific stocks and over-harvesting by non-Pacific island nations is increasing. The conservation and management of these stocks is essential to the region's long-term economic viability in order to avoid the over harvest associated with many other fisheries elsewhere in the world. The highly migratory fishery requires a regional management approach; however, to accomplish this, each Pacific country will need to develop its own management and enforcement capacity.

Acting Permanent Secretary for Fiji's Fisheries and Forests, L.R. Jiko, was frank in his appraisal of the Fiji fishery before this project. "Prior to the initiation of the plan, our tuna industry faced a number of harsh realities. We had unreliable data on the current catch, growing pressure on the stocks from an increasing number of licenses, a lack of transparency in the licensing process and an insufficient overall capacity to manage the fishery," he said.

One of the key issues was the fact that Pacific island countries receive less than seven percent of the benefits from the multi-billion dollar fishery. Today as a result of this project, radical improvements to the licensing system have already yielded almost a million (Fijian) dollars to the government, a portion of these being dedicated to fund fisheries management and innovative new programmes to address social concerns related to the fisheries.

In addition to the immediate effects of the project, such as industry-wide buy-in to the management plan, implementation of conservation and monitoring measures, and fisheries management capacity building, the plan has also put in place a scheme to bring more Indigenous Fijians into the fishery. A set number of licenses will be issued to Indigenous Fijian applicants and seed capital is now available to support new entrants into the fishery.

The Fijian government also implemented an innovative programme that will see some of the money from licensing fees going into a Social and Community Fund, which will address social issues such as HIV/AIDS education. A gender consultant's report that examined gender and social issues related to employment, training and health was incorporated into the plan.

Dr. Kenneth MacKay, coordinator for C-SPOD, says Fiji has been able to put in place a sustainable approach to fisheries management, and is now well-placed to assist other countries with the regional management of tuna resources in the Pacific. "We are delighted to have played a strategic role in this initiative and in the implementation of similar plans in Palau, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu," he said.

For more information: www.c-spodp.org