The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency has published a landmark report documenting two decades of collective action that, it says, have turned the Western and Central Pacific into a global model for tuna fisheries governance. Pacific Power: A 20‑Year Journey of Regional Leadership in Tuna Fisheries traces the evolution from fragmented national management to a coordinated regional approach and sets out fresh data on stock health, economic returns and social impact across Pacific Island nations.
The report — drawn from the Oceanic Fisheries Management Project (OFMP) and two decades of FFA-led cooperation — records that all four economically important tuna stocks in the region (skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye and South Pacific albacore) remain healthy and are being harvested sustainably. The FFA says the Western and Central Pacific now accounts for 54 percent of the world’s tuna catch and that Pacific governments have averaged US$480 million a year in licensing and access fees over the past five years.
Employment and revenues in the tuna sector are highlighted as major gains from regional unity. Between 2015 and 2022 employment in the tuna industry grew 44 percent, directly supporting nearly 28,000 livelihoods, the report states. It also credits the Parties to the Nauru Agreement’s Vessel Day Scheme (VDS), introduced in 2015, with a dramatic short‑term impact — quadrupling purse‑seine revenues within a single year by imposing scientifically informed caps on fishing effort.
Ludwig Kumoru, director of fisheries management at FFA and a former PNA CEO, is quoted in the report recalling early fragmentation: “In the beginning, every country tried to do their own thing. With the help of FFA, and eventually, the Commission, we were able to push ideas through as a bloc.” The document traces how coordinated frameworks involving the FFA, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and sub‑regional bodies such as the PNA enabled Pacific nations to negotiate collectively and assert greater control over their tuna resources.
Pacific Power distils the OFMP experience into ten key lessons for sustainable fisheries, grouped under three themes — foundations for success, managing for resilience, and enabling long‑term change. Regional cooperation, the report argues, is the single most powerful driver of progress, backed by sustained investments in science, pre‑meeting national consultations, and formal coordination mechanisms such as the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Working Group. The shift to harvest strategies — pre‑agreed, science‑based rules that replace year‑by‑year bargaining — is presented as a major institutional advance.
Advanced monitoring and compliance tools are flagged as essential to those gains. The report points to 100 percent observer coverage on PNA‑licensed purse seiners, widespread adoption of electronic reporting technologies and satellite‑based vessel tracking as measures that have substantially reduced illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the region.
But the publication also reframes the challenge ahead. For the first time in FFA reporting, climate change is described not as a long‑term threat but as an immediate driver of change — altering tuna distribution, shifting access rights and threatening revenues and livelihoods. The report stresses that while Pacific nations contribute minimally to global emissions, they face disproportionate impacts, and it calls for urgent, coordinated action to build resilience and equity into future arrangements.
By consolidating two decades of progress and warning of new climate pressures, Pacific Power positions regional cooperation and science‑based management as the pillars for sustaining one of the world’s most valuable fisheries. The FFA report is intended to guide policy and investment as Pacific nations prepare for the next round of regional and international negotiations over tuna management and ocean stewardship.