A purse seiner that was previously based in American Samoa is now re-flagged as a Solomon island vessel.
Tri Marine International and National Fisheries Developments (NFD) announce that the Solomon Island flag tuna purse seiner Solomon Sapphire is ready to go fishing after a lengthy refurbishment in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, and at NFD’s base in Noro, Solomon Islands.
In June 2016 the NFD board approved the purchase of the former U.S. flag fishing vessel.
A statement from Tri Marine says this change from U.S. flag to Solomon Island flag is consistent with the policy of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) to increase local participation in the tuna fishery and further underscores Tri Marine’s commitment to supporting island-based economies where the tuna resources are harvested.
The Solomon Sapphire is expected to fish primarily in Solomon Island’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to facilitate delivery of its tuna catch to SolTuna.
Locally managed, NFD and SolTuna, employ over 2,000 Solomon Islanders and represent one of the country’s largest private sector employers.
Renato Curto, CEO of Tri Marine congratulated NFD’s operations manager, Tony Sarcich, and his team for their success preparing the Solomon Sapphire to join the NFD fleet and pass all of the inspections and audits necessary for the vessel and its catch to qualify for export to the European Union market. NFD is the only supplier of tuna to SolTuna because the catch from their boats has Solomon Islands origin and EU authorized sanitary numbers.
About 70 percent of SolTuna’s production is exported to the EU.
The remainder goes primarily to the domestic market where SolTuna’s brands are a mainstay of the local diet.
SolTuna’s iconic Solomon Blue and SolTuna Chili Tuna products are also exported to the region
Curto said, “We are proud of what we are doing in Solomon Islands and we welcome the Solomon Sapphire to the integrated operations of NFD and SolTuna.
“The catch from this vessel will help SolTuna increase production and employment. If all goes well, we will consider additional boats for Solomon flag under NFD’s operation.”
