If you have any interest in tuna in the pacific and don't know about PNA (the Parties to the Nauru Agreement) then you don't have an interest in Tuna. Yet I agree is not an easy organization to understand and it hard to see how it fits in the already complex matrix of institutions (FFA, SPC, WCPFC) that support and regulate tuna fisheries in the WCPO.
my first full page boook cover
I personally admire the leadership they brought in terms of maximising the rent of the resource use to the 8+1 member countries and supported many times their Vessels Day Scheme (VDS) as a management tool in the case where ports were not yet in the position to be “licensed fish receivers” to count and allocate catches with precision to quota owners.
For the record, I do not agree to the full flagged support of the MSC certification, but this is based on the issue I have with the ecolabels in general (based on the fact that they are hypocrisy at best and neo-colonialism at worst) but not with PNA or any of its members.
At its core, PNA emerged from a shared vision for self-determination through an unwavering commitment by ‘the right set’ of people at the helm of the fisheries organization at the time who had a clear understanding of the regional environment and its culture to ensure that this collective fishing initiative not only took hold but thrived. Furthermore, the organization had great leader Dr Transform Aqorau and a group of very envisioning assessors like Les Clark.
The success of the PNA is a stellar example of the unswerving commitment by resource owners to take control of their fishery rights on their own terms and conditions. Since its establishment, the agreement has grown from strength to strength — a testament to the political strength and ownership behind this industry shown by the eight PNA states. The fact that they have transformed the value of economic returns from the tuna fishery from US$60 million in 2010 to around US$500 million in 2019 is no mean feat, especially when it relates to small island developing states.
I have known Transform for many years now, and we share a love of books and self-empowerment based on the fact perhaps that we grow up in rural setting in developing areas even if in two very different countries. I’m a bit a rara avis in the consulting world in the pacific. I wasn't born in a former colonial power (i.e. English, Australian, American, or NZ), nor a native English speaker, nor a full-blooded European, and I went from commercial fishing to development, from a fishing boat to a university… not the other way around. While this may have baffled many people at Transform’s level, he always was very kind and respectful to me… I remember asking him about accommodation in Majuro for a mission and he said come and stay at my I’m not going to be there, so I spend 2 weeks at his house working and going over his very impressive bookshelf (in my culture if someone trust with his home is a huge honour, one not to be taken lightly). Furthermore, I was also his guest at ancestral land in Rakutu, Solomon’s western province, near Noro (my favourite fisheries port in the world, and what fishing should look like in the pacific), where we shared stories of our native cultures, common visions, cava and tea in the outdoor kitchen no too different to the one in the place I grow up.
So last year when Transform asked me if I could contribute some photographs for the book he was writing on his 1st hand account of the development of PNA under his leadership I was totally honoured, and even more when I see my pictures in the cover and back cover as well as all through the text, plus his very kinds words in the acknowledgements.
So yeah! If you want to understand PNA boat from the inside… this is the book and is written by the captain itself!