No Limits To Fisheries Catch in Fiji: Ministry
There is no limitation to catch per vessel in Fiji according to the Ministry of Fisheries.
Presenting its 2018-2021 Annual Reports to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources on Wednesday, Acting Permanent Secretary Atelaite Rokosuka said the total allowable catch is 12 metric tonnes.
Three years into the Ministry’s strategic plan, Fiji is ranked top 5 in the Pacific in terms of the fisheries sector, which includes Australia and New Zealand.
The ministry’s five-year revenue target is to achieve $500 million.
“We are very confident with the potential in the sector and our plans to move into mass production and greater collaboration with partners in developing effective public private partnership with specific commodities, for example seaweed, so we are confident that we will hit our $500m target,” Ms Rokosuka said.
The committee heard that the annual licence renewal for fishing was amended to 20year licences now.
So far, the ministry has issued 1324 inshore fishing licenses.
In terms of maritime limits, the ministry looks after 130,000 square kilometres of archipelagic waters which includes 411 customary fishing grounds.
As of 2020, the fisheries sector supports the livelihood of an estimated 29,000 households in Fiji.
“The Ministry has a strategic development plan, a 10-year plan that was endorsed around 2019 and would expire in 2029 and this plan covers three subsectors of fisheries. The first one is offshore, coastal and also our aquaculture strategy,” she said.
“When we looked at our plan, we saw that offshore there is a need for the ministry to create value and to focus on key strategic priorities that are mentioned here.
“We need to ensure that we have a sustainable and profitable tuna industry, we are also looking into having Fiji as the regional hub for processing and the last one was to ensure we have a sustainable market access for our offshore tuna species.”
- FONUA TALEI