No 100% Fijian Owned Fishing Company In Fiji, Fisherman & Fishing Industry Pioneer Says

According to Mr Southwick, Fiji’s tuna operations have been taken over by foreign interests. Most fishing companies are locally registered, with operators who hold Fijian passports.But ownership, control and benefits are all held offshore.

Fiji’s fishing industry is finished, if the governing administration does not improve on policies that help sustain stock, says avid fisherman and industry pioneer, Grahame Southwick. He unleashed a scathing indictment on the 20 years of alleged mismanagement by recent Governments for losses to the local commercial fishing sector.

He asserts that Fiji now lacks 100 per cent true Fijian ownership in the large scale commercial fishing industry, as more Chinese operators have taken over.

According to Mr Southwick, Fiji’s tuna operations have been taken over by foreign interests.

Most fishing companies are locally registered, with operators who hold Fijian passports.

But ownership, control and benefits are all held offshore.

“There are no-fully owned and controlled Fiji tuna operations in Fiji,” Mr Southwick said.

“The genuine Fijian-owned vessels watch in despair.

“To cap it, the highly-subsidised vessels have returned to ravage our fishery once again.”

Mr Southwick claimed foreign investors were encouraged and assisted by ministry officials to do so, with licenses extended for three to five years. The Fijian-born businessman who owned and managed the now closed Fiji Fish on the back of the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic, says he is reacting now to the situation, in hopes the administration will heed his call to restore what he calls Fiji’s failed fishing industry.

“After 20 years of trying to persuade various administrations to take some action, all to no avail, the time was upon us for some radical direction,” Mr Southwick explained.

“Either that, or we kiss this industry goodbye forever.

“There is a need for a change of policy which the current administration failed to take on.”

When he closed Fiji Fish in recent years, 350 workers were sent home. He pursues other business interests amid his travels between Fiji and Thailand.

Background

The early years of the Fiji tuna industry, between 1990 and 2000, was a time when a balanced number of Fiji tuna vessels operated successfully, harvesting stock sustainably, while steadily monitoring the catch rates for signs of overfishing.

What followed was the beginning of the end of a finely balanced industry, he told SunBiz.

For months, SunBiz has asked Mr Southwick about his position on Fiji’s commercial fishing industry. But he held his silence until recently, when he finally shared his concerns.

He said various administrations decided, without any supporting evidence, to increase the Fijian fleet from a balanced 30 boats, to as many as 70 vessels.

“At one infamous point, the number of approved commercial fishing licenses were 112,” Mr Southwick said. “The industry went into economic collapse as boat after boat, company after company, buckled under the grave inconsistencies in policies versus reality.”

Failure & bankruptcy of over 90 companies

At one point, fishery records showed the failure and bankruptcy of over 90 companies, Mr Southwick pointed out.

Faced with such compelling evidence, a harbour full of derelict vessels, reports by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) that the Fiji Tuna Industry was “not viable”, the administration chose to ignore all that, to continue promoting and issues double the licenses that the stock could sustain, he said.

“They ignored all pleas to control the licenses and take into account the collapsing catch rates per boat,” Mr Southwick said.

“They ignored the mandatory audited accounts being submitted by companies every year, showing the horrendous losses, and when challenged said the losses by the Fiji boats were ‘not our problem’.

“No amount of evidence could convince the authorities that the industry was failing.”

Mr Southwick said new policies introduced this year further endorsed the continuity of over-fishing.

“After 40 years, there is not a single 100 per cent Fijian-owned and controlled fishing company operating,” he said.

He claimed the so-called Fijian fishing industry was 100 per cent controlled by highly subsidised offshore foreign interests.

‘There is no Fiji fishing industry’ Mr Southwick asserts that administrations to date have not learnt from past lessons.

“There is no fishing industry to speak of in Fiji,” he said.

“The days of Air Pacific lifting off 30 tonnes a day for our markets, all caught on real Fiji boats, employing hundreds of Fijians on the sea and in our factories, is over.

“Hundreds of skilled captains, engineers, fishermen, and factory workers laid off, as the industry spirals out of total control.”

SunBiz wrote to the Minister for Fisheries, Semi Koroilavesau, and his permanent secretary, Pene Nonu Baleinabuli.

According to Mr Koroilavesau, fish stock was no longer a concern, as sci

entifically verified during a regional summit.

Further comment from the Fisheries authorities was not available when this edition went to print.

The permanent secretary’s office did however verbally acknowledge receipt of SunBiz queries.

SunBiz gave the permanent secretary’s office a week to respond, days after it said it would.

But Mr Southwick said the Fisheries minister was misleading in his statement where he said the stock was no longer an issue.

“The stock may be ok biologically that is, to breed - but not economically enough to support a fishing fleet, un

less the fleet is subsidised,” Mr Southwick said.

“That’s why they are unable to manage.

“SPC / FFA have said so, the derelict boats in the harbour say so, the audited accounts submitted by the Fiji companies say so, the fishery catch stats say so, but none so blind as those who won’t see.”

Mr Southwick said: “Why does the minister think all Fiji boats are tied up if the stock is ok?

“Why does the minister think it’s ok to keep boats fishing, when they are catching less than half of break even? “This is the same reasoning that got us into this problem, and will keep us in the problem if this attitude ues.”

Solutions

“We have gone past the need tle steps,” Mr Southwick said “We need major surgery. “The only solution is the m back in fishing vessels.”

Even if the decision for a tr tainable change was made to would need 15 years minim stock to recover, he said. “Unless the administration ing to do that right now, t fishing industry is lost forev Southwick said.

“It will take years with caref agement to get the industry its feet, but it starts with the tion in approval over the nu commercial fishing licences for Fiji waters.

“While the current admini has demonstrated that the co industry was ‘not their prob sure is ours now.”