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The Pacific is the world's most significant tuna fishing area, valued at up to $US2 billion and supplying a third of world tuna production.
Most Pacific Island countries have large Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) and a close interest in the natural resources – notably fish – within them.
Safeguarding and managing the region’s fish stocks is a major concern of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA ), which provides policy advice to 17 member governments on the sustainable management of their fisheries in the western and central Pacific Ocean.
The most significant recent regional fisheries management development is the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific (WCPFC ), which was completed in 2000.
The Convention applies mainly to the tuna stocks found in the region. The convention came into force in 2004, providing a mechanism for region-wide cooperation in the conservation and management of the key stocks of the region.
In February 2006, the first meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) was held. This seeks to conserve and manage non-highly migratory species and to protect the bio diversity of the marine environment over an area extending from the eastern part of the South Indian Ocean near Australia, across the South Pacific to the EEZs of South America. This first meeting is the initial step in the formation of a regional framework to conserve and manage key stocks in the specified area.
New Zealand, with one of the larger EEZs in the Pacific and a fishing presence in the region, is an active participant in regional fisheries initiatives, including the FFA and the WCPFC.
