A stakeholder in the tuna industry is concerned about the future of the industry in Fiji should Government protect the marine protected areas (MPA) outlined by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Xue Jun Du, director of Golden Ocean Fish Ltd, says some of the MPAs as outlined by the ICUN are their main fishing grounds. Mr Du said the fishing industry supported MPAs and better management but not “no take” zones.
He said if the selected sites were made no-take zones, no fishing companies will survive, and if companies are forced out of their fishing grounds, catch numbers will go down, and it will not be viable for these companies to go fishing.
“The direct impact will be 5000 jobs lost,” he said.
“It will impact more than $300 million of investment in the tuna industry.
Mr Du asked whether the Government would be willing to buy this back from the industry stakeholders. In response to his concerns, IUCN geographic information system officer, John Kaitu’u said in conservation, there would always be an economic cost, and that the MPA boundaries were not set in stone.
He said the MPAs were identified through both economic and biophysical data.
“We were approached to help them identify these areas, and through meetings like this we are able to see where everybody’s position,” he said.
“Which one of our MPA boundaries works, which ones don’t work, and then it becomes incorporated, and it starts to change over time.”
Mr Kaitu’u said the stakeholders would be consulted on this as it was part of the robust process IUCN was following regarding the 30×30 commitment.
