Catching the fish is the easy part in Pacific

Workers outside a cannery in Pago Pago, American Samoa, where two plants employ 5000 people. Picture / Angela Gregory

In a recent speech, Foreign Minister Winston Peters referred to the saying that if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but if you give him the means to fish he can feed himself forever. "One might argue that the Pacific has been given too many fish and not enough effort has gone into providing the means to fish."

Peters was using this as an analogy, to outline challenges facing the region if it wishes to improve its lot and increase trade opportunities - to fish both literally and figuratively.

Despite some successes, the region is known for being littered with the "bones of failed projects" - home-grown schemes aiming to capitalise on the rich marine resources.

Tuna is the Pacific's major common resource - an estimated US$2 billion ($3.12 billion) is harvested annually in the region.

It supplies about one third of the world's tuna markets, and 60 per cent of canned tuna. But over 90 per cent of the catch, estimated at about 2 million tonnes, is taken by distant-water fishing nations like Japan, China, and Korea.

Fishing accounts for about half the region's exports, by value, but fish harvesting and canning are generally the least profitable activities, compared to retailing and distribution, largely controlled by the buying nations.

The Pacific Island countries mainly make their money, up to US$70 million, by charging licence fees to fish their economic zones.

Almost all of that goes to countries in the warmer equatorial waters where tuna run in the greatest numbers - Kiribati, the Federation of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomons, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.

But the licence fees are regarded as undervalued, and the deals frequently muddied by secret aid agreements, often tied to building local fishing capacity.

But there is an argument that Pacific countries would be better off co-operating and putting their energies into negotiating the best licence fees, possibly double what they earn now, rather than chasing the dream of building their own fisheries.

Professor Ron Duncan, executive director of the Pacific Institute of Advanced Studies in Development and Governance, says true market rents are not being paid for the valuable tuna. Too often, countries are picked off one by one, taking side deals in a divide-and-rule policy imposed by developed nations.

It is estimated that Pacific countries earn about 3 per cent of the gross fishery revenue through licensing, much less than deals elsewhere in the world.

In Duncan's view, add-ons such as capital investment to start domestic fish-based industries, fail to compensate for the low rents. Much of the domestic investment ultimately fails because of a lack of skills, infrastructure problems and challenges distributing tuna products overseas.

"Just because you are good at breeding cattle and have a few hides left over does not mean you are good at making shoes," says Duncan.

He is also concerned about joint venture private-public companies, as governments risk getting stuck with the losses.

Instead, the focus should be on increasing licence revenue, making distant-water fishing nations compete for quotas and encouraging them to keep an eye on each other to ensure compliance.

But Pacific countries tend to view each other as rivals. The problem is worsened by unstable governments, lack of political will, and corruption.

But there are success stories.

In Papua New Guinea and Fiji, fish processing plants have become the lifeline of often remote communities, and Samoa runs a successful longline fleet.

But a reliable electricity supply and cheap water are needed for onshore processing and many countries cannot deliver these.

Even in American Samoa, the future of its two US-owned canneries has been uncertain, with difficulties attracting workers and questions over renewal of a diesel tax credit which keeps them competitive.

StarKist Samoa and Samoa Packing (Chicken of the Sea) have operated from Pago Pago harbour for about half a century, with a combined workforce of over 5000.

In Fiji, Aisake Batibasaga, principal research officer of the Fisheries Department, says the country has a good footing in the fishing industry compared to others in the region.

Ninety per cent of the 63 vessels registered to operate in Fijian waters are foreign-owned, but the target is to have Fijian boats make up half the fleet in 20 years.

Fiji had required local partnership in fishing investments as part of its licensing deals but they had proven only nominal. Since 2002, Fijian captains and engineers have been able to borrow money from the government to build capacity.

Batibasaga says about 85 per cent of the catch is processed onshore, and mostly sent to Japan, but limited flights restrict exports.

An estimated 2000 locals work on the tuna boats and hundreds more in processing plants.

Batibasaga say that from 2001 to 2004 Fiji allowed 110 licences but reduced that to 70 after problems with declining catches. The annual catch volume is also limited to 15,000 metric tonnes for three tuna species.

"Last year they were complaining there was no tuna."

Some tuna catches may have already peaked in the region.

Matthew Hooper, senior international adviser for New Zealand's Ministry of Fisheries, says Pacific fisheries are at a critical stage.

In other parts of the globe tuna is already overfished. In the Pacific, skipjack and albacore stocks are healthy, but big eye and yellow fin tuna are possibly being fished to their limits.

"There is a risk of fishing them to the point where it is very hard to bring the levels up again."

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, established in 2004, will seek deals between its Pacific and distant-water fishing members to start a long-term process to control the catch.

Tuna migrate through the economic zones of 22 states and territories, which requires regional management, but there is tension with sovereign rights.

While the commission sets overall catch and effort limits, it can't dictate how coastal states go about managing fisheries in their zones.

In December, the commission resolved that all states limit purse seine fishing effort to 2004 levels and capped longline catches of big eye tuna for some members. But some countries try to get round such measures and illegal fishing is a problem.

Thinking small may prove a simpler option.

Dr Timothy Pickering, who teaches in the School of Marine Studies at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, says farming freshwater prawns and marine shrimps has great potential in the Pacific.

"They don't have to make huge profits to have a big impact on empty pockets."

* Angela Gregory's research was partly sponsored by the Pacific Co-operation Foundation, (04) 931-9380