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The impasse on fishing access for the U.S. tuna fleet into one of the world's most lucrative fisheries islands has ended after the Pacific islands and the United States agreed to a new multilateral access and aid treaty.
Administered by the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Fisheries Agency (FFA), the 28-year-old South Pacific Tuna Treaty was on the verge of collapse in the first half of 2016 following a significant impasse on fishing access fees following the collapse in tuna prices last year.
The treaty is the Pacific's most important aid, trade and geopolitical agreement governing the U.S. fleet's access to the Skipjack Tuna fishery in the South Pacific, providing much needed aid via the purchase of fishing days, or fishing effort, as well as fisheries surveillance by the U.S. military.
The treaty's negotiation, which had been on shaky ground over the past five months, ended at the weekend with an agreement to give the U.S. tuna fleet more flexibility in their access while the pacific nations get more control over their maritime Exclusive Economic Zones.
"The sense of achievement and relief that regional cooperation has delivered a deal many doubted could be achieved, definitely tops a very long, often frustrating, and sometimes torturous negotiation process for the Pacific," Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) director-general James Movic said in a statement.
The FFA, the U.S. State Department and vested interests have agreed in principle to a new business model which sees U.S. tuna vessels treated as individuals rather than a single fleet, while also allowing PIF parties to negotiate access agreements individually.
While the new treaty is less than what was originally in place, the FFA said the fewer days for the U.S. fleet means they get a higher rate of return, and presumably, member states can sell the extra days to foreign fleets.
"By the end of the deal the Treaty will be providing returns of over 14,000 U.S. dollars per fishing day in addition to the economic assistance that each country receives," FFA deputy director Wes Norris said, adding the initial negotiations started at 2,000 U.S. dollars per day.
（APD）
