29 June 2016: Representatives of 16 Pacific Island Parties to the South Pacific Tuna Treaty and the US agreed in principle to changes to the Tuna Treaty and terms of fishing access for the US purse seine fleet to Pacific Island waters through 2022. The proposed agreement aims to establish more flexible procedures for commercial cooperation between Pacific Island Parties and US industry.

The 27-year old Tuna Treaty entered into force in 1988, with an initial five-year agreement, and has been under negotiation since 2009. Parties extended the treaty in 1993. In 2002, Parties amended and extended the Treaty and a related Economic Assistance Agreement between the US and members of the Pacific Islands Forum, represented by the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), for ten years. In 2013, representatives from the US and Pacific Island Parties agreed to extend the Economic Assistance Agreement for an additional ten years and signed an interim arrangement, which was extended.

The 18th Renegotiation Session discussed operational terms and conditions for the US tuna purse seine fleet to fish in waters under the jurisdiction of the Pacific Island Parties, which cover the Western and Central Pacific Ocean and are home to the largest and most valuable tuna fisheries in the world. Parties will conduct additional reviews before signing a final agreement.

According to a press release by the US Department of State, the Tuna Treaty is part of the US’s efforts to contribute to sustainable fisheries management, to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to establish best practices in fisheries management for the Pacific region. These efforts will also contribute to progress under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development), particularly target 14.4, which aims to, by 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, IUU fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics.

Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, the US and Vanuatu are Parties to the treaty. [US Press Release] [US Website on South Pacific Tuna Treaty] [FFA Website]