FIJI'S tuna catch depends largely on what swims into Fiji's Exclusive Economic Zone, the Fiji Tuna Boat Owners Association said yesterday amid moves by stakeholders of the industry to perfect Fiji's Tuna Management and Development Plan.
The association, owners of 33 of the total 66 fishing licences in the market, said:
* Fiji exhausted its resident fish stock years ago;
* the suggestion that Fiji should continue to attempt to catch 15,000 tonnes by "supercharging " the situation and introducing excessive vessels within the Fiji EEZ was plain "lunacy"; and
* the effects of such a policy were devastatingly manifested in 2004 and 2006.