Find Fisheries expertise in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is the largest tropical island in the Eastern Hemisphere, and has a great diversity of coastal deltas and marine environments. The country has a fairly large water area of 3,120,000 km², and a coastline of 17,000 km and agriculture, forestry and fisheries contribute 33% of its GDP (2008). While the number of people involved in fishing is not known, it has been estimated by the UNDP at about 2000 coastal village communities with a population of about 500,000 people.

Fishing activities among the smaller island communities is a key mode of subsistence-based survival, and research of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that small-scale fisheries can provide up to 35% of the protein intake of these communities. The fisheries reflect this diversity, and include the harvesting of reef flats, spear fishing, shallow water hand-lining from dugout canoes along with other fishing methods. Yet, by far the largest fishery is the purse seine tuna fishery, caught by both local and foreign based vessels.

Marine catches are dominated by tuna and tuna-like species. As most Papua New Guineans live inland, half of the population engage in inland fishing activities, traditionally eel though the catch also includes a number of exotic species.

Most of the inland catch comes from the two major rivers, the Sepki/Ramu and the Fly/Purari, nearly exclusively fished on the artisanal level. The catch profile is largely tilapia, Java carp and rainbow trout. As most fishing occurs on a subsistence level, management is undertaken by local communities, and there are no formal objectives and measures for the inland sector.

The main non-government body is the Fishing Industry Association, which aims to provide a formal channel through which fishing related businesses can voice their ideas, opinions and concerns relating to the development of the sector.

The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is the primary regulatory body of the sector and part of its function is to facilitate export certification and manage fishery resources to ensure sustainable growth. Access fees from foreign fleet form the bulk of revenues received and managed by the NFA. The Fisheries Management Act 1998 defines the role and responsibilities of the NFA. The functions of the NFA, in accordance with the National Fisheries Authority Corporate Plan 2008-2012 include: the management of fisheries within the fisheries waters in accordance with this act and taking into account the international obligations of Papua New Guinea in relation to tuna and highly migratory stocks.