Majuro, Marshall Islands 19 October 2016: Thirteen participants from Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands successfully gained certification for small-scale tuna canning operations following a one-week training in Majuro.

   This was the first regional tuna canning training for business and government representatives from member nations of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) that manages the multi-billion dollar tuna fishery in the western and central Pacific.

   Majuro, Marshall Islands 7 October 2016: The first regional training for small-scale tuna canning entrepreneurs in the Pacific will start Monday in Majuro. The training aims to certify prospective canners so that commercial tuna canning operations can be successfully launched in several island member nations of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA).

   PNA CEO Ludwig Kumoru said PNA’s aim is to find as many ways as possible to add value to the commercial tuna industry for member nations.

   Majuro, Marshall Islands 18 September 2016: Endorsement of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement’s successful Vessel Day Scheme fisheries management system by Pacific Island Forum Leaders at their recent annual summit in Pohnpei provides a boost to PNA’s initiatives to add value to the tuna fishery.

   Majuro, Marshall Islands 16 August 2016: Improving systems that underpin rights-based tuna management in the western and central Pacific, while identifying ways to add value to benefit both industry and the islands are twin goals of the new Chief Executive of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA).

   Ludwig Kumoru, formerly Deputy Managing Director of the National Fisheries Authority of Papua New Guinea, officially took the reins as PNA CEO early this month and is now based in Majuro.

   Kiritimati Island, Kiribati 31 July 2016:  The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) are successful in commercial development and conservation management of the western and central Pacific tuna fishery precisely because its members — not donor agencies and nations — are making the decisions as “rights holders” in the fishery, outgoing PNA CEO Dr. Transform Aqorau told PNA leaders at their annual Ministerial Meeting in Kiritimati Island, Kiribati earlier this week.

   Kiritimati Island, Kiribati 29 July 2016: Ministers and officials from eight Pacific islands met on Kiritimati Island, Kiribati from 22 to 26 July at the annual PNA Ministers Meeting to address conservation and business management issues for the multi-billion dollar western and central Pacific tuna fishery.

   Kiritimati Island, Kiribati 26 July 2016: PNA Ministers gathered in Kiritimati, Kiribati this week for their 11th annual meeting. Opening the meeting, Kiribati Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development Tetabo Nakara addressed the importance of building on the gains for the PNA and maximizing opportunities for the future through innovative approaches to management, conservation and development. This can be accomplished, he said, by strengthening the rights of the Parties to their shared resources, which was the theme of the meeting.

  Majuro, Marshall Islands 26 July 2016: An Asian Development Bank report on Pacific island economies recognizes the Parties to the Nauru Agreement’s vessel day scheme (VDS) as “an outstanding global example of coastal states taking control of a fishery based on highly migratory stocks” that resulted in a more than tripling of revenue to PNA members from 2010 to 2014.

   Majuro, Marshall Islands 19 July 2016: “In 2009, fisheries ministers asked us to establish the vessel day scheme on a commercial basis,” said Parties to the Nauru Agreement Chief Executive Dr. Transform Aqorau on the eve of the PNA fisheries ministers meeting this week. “Our small office in Majuro achieved what the ministers requested. We did it with our own resources without donor funding.”

  Majuro, Marshall Islands 18 June 2016: A recently signed cooperation agreement between the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) and the International Sustainable Seafood Foundation (ISSF) allows the two entities to cooperate on FAD tracking, the Vessel Day Scheme, purse seine vessel registry and other areas.

   As part of this closer cooperation between ISSF and PNA, ISSF is to allow PNA nations an exemption to bring new fishing vessels into service to develop their domestic fisheries industries.