South Pacific Tuna Treaty Explained

South Pacific Tuna Treaty
Long Name:	Treaty on Fisheries between the Governments of Certain Pacific Island States and the Government of the United States of America
Date Signed:	2 April 1987
Location Signed:	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Date Effective:	15 June 1988
Condition Effective:	4 ratifications
Parties:	17
Depositor:	Government of Papua New Guinea

The South Pacific Tuna Treaty is a fisheries treaty agreement between the United States and 16 Pacific Island countries. The treaty entered into force in 1988, was extended in 1993, and again in 2002,^[1] and runs to 2022,^[2] unless otherwise extended. It allows for United States fishing vessels to fish in the exclusive economic zones of the other party states.^[1]

The parties to the treaty are:

• Australia
• Cook Islands
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Fiji
• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Nauru
• New Zealand
• Niue
• Palau
• Papua New Guinea
• Samoa
• Solomon Islands
• Tonga
• Tuvalu
• United States
• Vanuatu

The area covered by the treaty contains the largest and most valuable tuna fisheries in the world, on which many Pacific Island countries depend as one of their most important natural resources.^[2]

See also

• Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency

External links

• Treaty text

Notes and References

1. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pacific-islands/international-affairs/south-pacific-tuna-treaty South Pacific Tuna Treaty
2. US Department of State, South Pacific Tuna Treaty