KIRIBATI’S partially state-owned fisheries company Kiribati Fish Ltd, which is controlled by Shanghai Fisheries General Corporation (Group), announced late last year it will supply fish certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Under the partnership with Pacifical, which markets MSC tuna caught in PNA waters, Kiribati Fish is expected to process MSC-certified yellowfin tuna steaks and loins bound for the EU and US.

The supply begins this month. Kiribati Fish has already spent around $10million in its processing factory in Tarawa, said managing director, Xue Jun Du. Kiribati Fish was formed in 2010 as a partnership between the government of Kiribati (40 per cent), Golden Ocean Fish of Fiji (40 pc), and Shanghai Fisheries. Golden Ocean Fish is also owned by Shanghai Fisheries, meaning the Chinese firm controls 60 pc of Kiribati Fish. 

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Bishops speak on Papua CATHOLIC bishops from across the Pacific region have declared support for West Papua to have a greater international voice. Dignity for West Papuans was a focus issue for the executive committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Pacific Islands meeting in Port Moresby. Toowoomba Bishop Robert McGuckin and Parramatta Bishop Vincent Long represented Australia. “They (West Papuans) seek what every family and culture seeks: respect of personal and communal dignity, free expression of one’s aspirations, and good neighbourly relations,” the Catholic bishops said in a statement. “Political boundaries can never contain or control ethnic relationships and so we urge governments to support the West Papuan people’s desire to participate fully in the Melanesian Spearhead Group.”

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