Revenue from tuna depends on fishing rules: PNG National Fisheries Authority

Revenue generated for the tuna fishery is based on the number of days that they sell vessel-day scheme (VDS), according to the National Fisheries Authority.

Managing director John Kasu said under VDS, a certain number of days had been allocated for them to fish sustainably and then sell to fishing companies.

“They (companies) pay for those days and one day is about US$10,500 (K34,700),” he said.

“When they pay for the days, that becomes the revenue that is generated.”

Kasu said they were working on the budget allocated for this year which was about K400 million (US$123 million).

“That depends on whether we sell all the days or not,” he said.

“It looks like some of the days will not be sold, so we might not be looking at that full budget for the year.” He said environmental factors like El Nino also impacted on fishing.

“The tuna might be here and you can sell out all the days, but then tuna might migrate somewhere else – then the requirement for the days would be very less,” he said.

“You would not sell the days that you expect to sell.

“That’s how income generation works.”

The VDS has been operating since 2005. It is designed to “constrain and reduce catches of target tuna species, and increase the rate of return from fishing activities” by a complex system of fees paid to member countries of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA).

The scheme limits the number of fishing days, which are then allocated by country and sold to the highest bidder..

SOURCE: THE NATIONAL/PACNEWS