A well-planned and successful tuna management and development program can make Papua New Guinea become a world leader in tuna, PNG Fishing Industry Association president Pete Celso has told Islands Business.
PNG can also look at opportunities in expanding tuna market in the world to other countries like the US, other parts of Asia, India, Australia, the Middle East and others, he said in a interview with the business magazine.
Celso added PNG could gain maximum financial benefits for the country if PNG could process all its catch on-shore.
In April, a PNG official detailed the extent of PNG’s tuna processing growth potential.
Extensive investments by companies from South Korea, France, China, the Philippines and Thailand mean PNG could process more than 530,000 metric tons per year, revealed a presentation by Sylvester Pokajam, managing director of the country’s National Fishing Authority.
This means the country would be able to process nearly all of its tuna catches, Pokajam had said. PNG catches over the past six to seven years have averaged 580,000 metric tons, while the country has a total allowable catch of 720,000t, or about 17% of the world’s tuna catch (4.3million).