The local tuna industry contributes an average of $200 million towards Fiji’s gross domestic product, providing direct employment to more than 16,000 Fijians.
This was highlighted by the Minister for Fisheries Kalaveti Ravu as he launched the inaugural Fiji Tuna Symposium yesterday.
Mr Ravu said of the total people employed by the tuna industry, about 1677 people were employed as crew on offshore fishing vessels and more than 2000 employed in the processing plants.
Mr Ravu said Fiji was a leader in Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification which meant MSC certified vessels could export to various international markets at a premium price and had consistently secured MSC certification for over a decade, exporting 90 per cent of Fiji tuna to EU, Asia and around the Pacific.
He said the Fiji Tuna Symposium would provide a platform to discuss dire impediments to the growth and development of our very own, domestic tuna fishing industry.
“…it will leverage social, environmental, and economic themes, guide and innovate protection and sustainable production approaches, explore and secure sustainable partnerships and co-design a roadmap to mainstreaming cross-sectoral issues to enable sustainable growth and development of Fiji’s national economy.”
Conservation International senior director, Pacific Region, Susana Waiqanibete-Tuisese said in the attempt to build a sustainable tuna fishing industry, the private sector partners had paved the way forward by attaining MSC in 2012 and had held this certification for over a decade.
“Today, the Fiji Fishing Industry Association has more than 70 per cent of its national fleet under MSC and sustainably harvesting, processing, and exporting albacore, yellowfin, and bigeye tuna.
“Furthermore, Fiji has also ratified the Port State Measures Agreement in 2019, to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU-caught fish landing in our ports (Ministry of Fisheries, 2019),” she said.
The symposium is expected to generate a “Partnership Statement that will guide the development of a three-year roadmap aimed at addressing key issues elevated over these two days.
