Public-Private Partnership in Papua New Guinea (PNG) Promotes Sustainable Tuna Fisheries and Reduces Risks to Threatened Species

A fishing company in PNG has committed to promote an ecosystem approach to fisheries management and reduce risks to threatened species thereby supporting the goals of the CTI-CFF. On November 30, 2011, Fair Well Investment Limited, a long line tuna fishing company based in Port Moresby, signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the PNG National Fisheries Authority and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to initiate the trial use of circle hooks in its long line tuna fleet. The agreement provides another example of the fishing industry taking an active role in supplying more discerning foreign markets with responsibly-caught tuna by employing more sustainable fishing practices such as the use of circle hooks. Circle hook use has proven quite effective in reducing the incidence of sea turtle bycatch and injury. Its use is in line with the growing demand from global markets for tuna that has been caught in ways that are neither harmful to non-target animals, such as turtles, nor exceed the capacity of the tuna stocks for natural self-replenishment.  Funding from the Netherlands and an Australian supermarket chain will support the experiment by providing the circle hooks, technical support and data collection and analysis. For its part, Fair Well Investment has pledged to provide two fishing vessels, crew and the use of circle hooks.

Source: WWF CTNI Newsletter