ABOUT THE PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM FISHERIES AGENCY (FFA)

Our corporate mission is…

“to drive regional cooperation to create and enable the maximum long term social and economic benefit from the sustainable use of our shared offshore fishery resources”

Our strategic plan

Our strategic plan guides the secretariat and members about how to strategically achieve our vision and mission. We currently work from the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan.

To achieve the strategic outcomes and goals outlined in the strategic plan, we have a living document that charts our operating intentions.

We also have a Country Service Level Agreement (CSLA) between members and the FFA to help:

  • clarify member priorities for our direction
  • set out expectations of us and our members
  • give direction on how to deliver our services.

CSLAs have been signed with Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. We developed the agreements after an independent review of FFA carried out in 2010.

FFA supports sustainable offshore fisheries

The joint aim of our members is captured in the vision statement, which states:

“Our people will enjoy the highest levels of social and economic benefits through the sustainable use of our offshore fisheries resources.”

Worth over USD$7.1 billion a year, tuna is important for many people’s livelihoods in the Pacific.

We help our 17 members to manage, control and develop their sustainable offshore fisheries now and in the future by strengthening their national capacity and our regional solidarity.

FFA’s 17 Members are Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Learn more

Since 1979, we have facilitated regional cooperation so that all Pacific countries benefit from the sustainable use of tuna. FFA helps countries manage sustainable offshore fisheries that fall within their 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).

FFA supports member countries at national and regional levels

We are an advisory body to our member countries.

Our members make sovereign decisions about their tuna resources and take part in regional decision-making on how to manage tuna.

Based in Honiara (Solomon Islands), we provide support at the national and regional level.

We support our members by directly providing expertise, advice, information, policy recommendations, regional strategies, technical support and development opportunities.

We solicit the views of leaders, and identify areas of consensus and emerging areas for debate.

We help prepare fisheries leaders with briefs on technical and policy issues. This means they are better equipped to take part in decision-making forums such as the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and negotiations about binding legal agreements (the various treaties, agreements and arrangements pertaining to fishing in the Pacific).

Pacific Island leaders actively set our agenda and priorities through their involvement in our projects and meetings. This happens formally through the Forum Fisheries Committee (FFC).

FFA aims to maximise economic and social benefits from fisheries

To maximise economic and social benefits of fisheries, countries and territories must do three things:

EXAMPLES OF THE WORK WE DO