Fisheries 'face collapse'

Photo / Brett Phibbs

Pacific island fisheries face collapse in the next 25 years as overfishing, population growth and climate change threaten one of the region's main economic resources, a study warned.

The report, from the Noumea-based Secretariat of the Pacific Community, said the $ 2.67 billion a year industry was poorly managed, with a lack of co-ordination between the 22 island nations in the region.

It warned some types of tuna were already being dangerously overexploited and the problem would spread.