Pergamon Marine Policy, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 173-186, 1997 © 1997ElsevierScienceLtd All rights reserved.Printed in Great Britain 0308-597X/97 $17.00 + 0.00 PII:SO308-597X(96)O0054-1 Ocean governance in the Western Pacific purse seine fishery the Palau Arrangement Transform Aqorau and Anthony Bergin The Pacific island states have developed various legal and political mechanisms to manage the region's vast tuna resource. This article discusses the most recent arrangement--the Palau Arrangement. It traces its history and identifies its strengths and weaknesses. The paper argues that the Palau Arrangement needs to be reviewed in light of recent developments in international law, in particular the conclusion of the UN Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. Key words--Tuna management, regional co-operation, Palau Arrangement, precautionary approach, competent arrangement, international law Transform Aqorau is at the Centre for Natural Resources Law and Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia. Anthony Bergin is Associate Professor, School of Politics, University College, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, ACT, Australia. The authors are grateful for the comments on an earlier draft of the paper by Gerry Geen, Partner, Fisheries Economics Research and Management Specialists, Kiama, NSW. continued on page 174 Introduction Since 1982, the Pacific island states (PICs) which are members of the Nauru Group I [1,2] have been developing legal and political mechanisms to manage the region's vast tuna resource. The tuna resource is mainly caught by fishing boats from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States which have been fishing in the region for tuna since the 1930s [3]. The major species of tuna caught in the region are skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), yellowfin (Thunnus albaeares), albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and bigeye (Thunnus obesus) (see Table 1). The value of the tuna industry in the region is estimated to be worth in excess of US$1 billion annually [4]. In 1995, the value of tuna catches in the waters within and adjacent to the exclusive economic zones of the PICs is estimated to have exceeded US$1.7 billion. 2 The estimated values for the purse seine and longline fisheries for 1995 are $750 million and $850 million respectively, while the pole-and-line fishery is estimated to have contributed $130 million [5, p.3]. In 1995, the purse seine catch is estimated at 780 000 metric tonnes (mt), about 70000mt (8%) lower than the 1994 catch. The PICs receive only $74 million, approximately 4% of the landed value of the tuna [6]. This has led to accusations against countries like Japan and Korea of exploiting the island countries. 3 The PICs have been slow to develop their own domestic tuna industries. They suffer constraints that have a nega- tive impact on the development of domestic tuna industries. Most of them lack the capital and necessary expertise to invest in the industry [7]. Nonetheless, they see the licensing of foreign fishing vessels only as a short to medium term measure. In the long term, they want to develop their own industry. The Pacific region accounts for 66% of the principal market tuna species. It also accounts for 71% of the world skipjack catches, 66% of the yellowfin, 58% of the bigeye and 53% of the albacore [8, 9]. Table 1 indicates that a large proportion of the tuna caught in the Pacific is taken from the waters 173