The European Union and the Cook Islands have reached agreement on a new three-year fisheries agreement, the European Commission announced on Wednesday 28 July (https://bit.ly/3zMWXAm ).
This agreement allows EU fishing vessels operating in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean to continue to fish in the Cook Islands fishing grounds.
Under the new arrangements, the EU and European shipowners will provide the Cook Islands with €4 million over the next 3 years, including €1 million to support the Cook Islands’ sectoral fisheries policy.
The Cook Islands have an exclusive economic zone of 1.8 million km2, the fifth largest in the South Pacific region. Since 2021, tropical tuna seining in the Cook Islands fishing grounds has increased rapidly, and the Cook Islands have become a strategic area for the operations of the EU seine fleet.
The management of tropical tuna species is the responsibility of the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Commission (WCPFC). The new protocol will allow the four EU purse seiners operating in this vast ocean to fish up to 100 fishing days per year in Cook Islands waters, with shipowners having the option to buy an additional 110 days. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)