📋 Tender Overview
On 2 October 2023, the European Union and the Republic of Kiribati signed a new fisheries protocol to the sustainable fisheries partnership agreement for a duration of five years. The Kiribati protocol will grant the European Union fleet operating in the Pacific Ocean access to the richest and healthiest tuna stocks worldwide, an area which provides for more than half of the global tuna catch.
Stocks of the four key tuna species – skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye and albacore – are deemed by the scientists to be in a healthy state and are currently exploited in a sustainable way. The European Union has been an active actor within the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) to promote a sustainable and responsible fisheries agenda, in line with the objectives of the EU’s common fisheries policy.
Virginijus Sinkevi?ius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, said:
“Our partnership agreements have gained worldwide recognition as a benchmark for good fisheries governance. The European Union is pleased to resume its longstanding fisheries partnership with Kiribati over the next five years. With the renewal of the fisheries protocol, Union vessels will be able to continue exploiting one of the healthiest tropical tuna stocks. We are particularly proud to contribute, through our sectoral support, to the development of the Kiribati fisheries sector, a Pacific small Island developing state which relies on their valuable tuna resources for its economic development”.
The protocol signed today will allow Union fishing vessels to resume their fishing activity in the Kiribati fishing grounds during the next five years.
Within the new protocol, EU and shipowners contributions will potentially amount to a total of approximately €18 million for the next five years, including payments to support implementation of initiatives taken in the context of the Kiribati sectoral fisheries and maritime policy to the tune of €2 million. The implementation of the sectoral support programme will allow Kiribati to reinforce the capacity of Kiribati’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development as well as to continue with the implementation of sustainable fisheries policies, and more specifically to enhance the livelihoods of artisanal fishers, to reinforce the monitoring, control and surveillance capabilities, and to maintain its food safety standards for local seafood consumption and for exports. It is important to mention that assistance provided by the sectoral support has allowed Kiribati to be the fourth Pacific island country authorised to export seafood products to the European Union.
For the first time in a fisheries protocol between the European Union and Kiribati, it was agreed to have an effort management regime (fishing days) instead of a regime based on catch management (reference tonnage), which is better aligned with Kiribati’s domestic legislation and in line with the way the WCPFC manages its purse seine tropical tuna fisheries.
The new protocol will allow Union purse seiners to fish up to 160 fishing days annually, with the possibility for the ship-owners to buy additional days only when there is sound scientific evidence that the conditions of the tuna stocks allow for further expansion of fishing activities. The fisheries protocol provides for a strong monitoring, control and surveillance framework, which will allow both parties to ensure that Union vessels, a fleet which operates under the highest compliance and social standards, comply with national, sub-regional and regional conservation and management measures. The authorities of Kiribati in particular will ensure that the fishing days made available to the Union vessels are strictly monitored, to ensure that Kiribati’s effort limits declared under the WCPFC are duly respected.
