60 SPC Fisheries Newsletter #157 - September–December 2018 Forty years of small-scale tuna fishery development in the Pacific Islands: Lessons learned Robert Gillett, 1 Michel Blanc, Ian Cartwright, Mike Batty, Mike Savins, Joelle Albert, Noah Idechong, Mainui Tanetoa, Tricia Emberson and William Sokimi gone unrecognised. It is therefore opportune to review past efforts, determine what has been successful and unsuccess- ful, and provide guidance for the future to the individuals, organisations, and governments wishing to develop small- scale tuna fisheries in the region 2 Identifying the lessons During 2017 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Pacific Community (SPC, formerly the South Pacific Commission) discussed ways that the two agencies could cooperate in the devel- opment of small-scale tuna fisheries in the region. One of the ideas that emerged was to bring together a small group of people highly experienced in small-scale tuna fisheries development to discuss what has occurred in the past, con- solidate the experiences, and focus on common features that emerged, with a view of providing guidance for the future. Accordingly, the SPC/FAO Consultation on Small-Scale Tuna Fishery Development and Associated Value-Chains in the Pacific was convened 2–3 October 2018 in Noumea, New Caledonia. The consultation was attended by the authors as well as by select SPC staff. During the consultation it was determined that the combined experience of the 10 participants in small-scale tuna fisheries development in the Pacific Islands region accounted for about 300 person years. The consultation and the experience of the participants were the primary sources of information for this paper. Additional sources included documents assembled for the consultation, fieldwork on small-scale tuna fishery develop- ment in August 2018, and further reflection by participants on several issues after the consultation. To structure the discussions in the consultation, key themes in the development of small-scale tuna fisheries were identi- fied, and some of these were modified and/or consolidated. The resultant list consisted of 10 key themes: 1) FADs, 2) fisher associations, 3) safety, 4) subsidies, 5) interactions with large-scale tuna fisheries, 6) boats, engines and fuel use, 7) post-harvest aspects, 8) the role of women, 9) data, and 1 Director, Gillett, Preston and Associates. gillett@connect.com.fj 2 In this document ‘small-scale tuna fishing’ is defined as fishing for tuna from boats without decks or with partial decks. 1 Background There has been a long heritage of attempts to promote tuna fishing from small boats in the Pacific Islands region. A fisheries specialist visited Fiji in the late 1930s and recom- mended a better type of small boat and new fishing meth- ods to allow small-scale commercial fishing to expand into offshore areas (Hornell 1940). Following this, at the very first fisheries conference of the (then called) South Pacific Commission (SPC) in 1952, several possibilities for small craft tuna fishing were discussed (SPC 1952). In the early 1960s, SPC produced a manual on tuna trolling (Devambez 1962). Since that early period, attempts to develop small- scale tuna fishing have proliferated. Box 1 lists the various interventions used to develop small-scale tuna fishing 2 in the last few decades. Why has there been so much interest in promoting small- scale tuna fishing? The existence of large tuna resources in the region is certainly a factor but other issues are involved. This includes the thinking that indigenous Pacific Island- ers have missed out on the benefits of industrial fishing operations, or that by using small boats and having low entry costs, there is an opportunity for a large number of people to reap benefits. In previous decades, the coastal fishery extension backgrounds of many fisheries officials in senior positions may have contributed to the preference for small-scale development when dealing with tuna. Overall, the governments of all Pacific Island countries feel an obli- gation to help small-scale fishers, and there has been much enthusiasm for linking this with the large tuna resources of the region. Only a few of the attempts at small-scale tuna fishery devel- opment listed in in Box 1 have been successful and have led to the establishment of new fisheries or the sustained enhancement of existing ones. Reasons for this are complex and likely to vary across locations. Considering the large number of initiatives to promote small-scale tuna fishing (and plans for more), there has been surprisingly little effort to consolidate what has been learned from past attempts. From a historical perspective, failed ini- tiatives have often been repeated apparently without knowl- edge of the previous work. Conversely, some successes have