Pacific Islands secure 90 mln USD tuna deal with U.S.

Pacific Island nations have secured a 90 million U.S. dollar tuna deal with the United States, the Pacific Island Forum fisheries Agency (FFA) said.

The historic agreement was reached between the agency's 17 Pacific Island members and the United States this week in Honolulu.

In return, U.S. fishing boats will be allowed to fish 8,300 days in the region in 2015.

More than 60 percent of the world's tuna is caught in the Pacific and a majority of the fishing vessels come from China, Japan, South Korea, Spain as well as North and South America. For many Pacific Island nations, tuna license fees are the main source of income.

FFA Director-General James Movick said it was possibly the most valuable fisheries access agreement ever reached in the world.

"We have been renegotiating this treaty since 2009, when its total value was in the order of 21 million U.S. dollars," he said in a statement.

"During that time, the Pacific Island Parties were able to secure an increase to 42 million U.S. dollars in 2011, and then again to 63 million U.S. dollars in 2012."

"The package that has now been agreed substantially builds on that, and reflects very well the outstanding progress made by the Parties to Nauru Agreement (PNA) in building the value of their purse seine fisheries."

Movick described the outcome of these negotiations as a superb example of regional cooperation and team effort and testimony to the increased expertise and capabilities of regional officials.

The FFA members include Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.