FISHING

SM has in recent years earned $18-24 million annually in licensing fees paid by foreign vessels for tuna fishing in the FSM’s Exclusive Economic Zone. More recently, additional earnings have begun to grow as private sector long-lining companies have been established in Pohnpei, and state-owned fishing corporations (such as Pohnpei Fishing Corporation and the Yap Fishing Corporation) have initiated their own fishing operations together with onshore processing. Direct exports of sashimi-grade fresh tuna by air to Japan account for increasing traffic at the airports, and a dedicated air freight service from all the FSM states is managed by the government-owned National Fisheries Corporation (NFC).

Because of the extensive coral reefs and lagoons, mariculture and aquaculture is seen as a feature industry in the FSM, including farming of giant clams, eucheuma seaweed, sponges, pearls, green snails, trochus, milkfish and other species. Investment into this marine resource base is strongly encouraged to boost the economy.

The Aquaculture Center based in Kosrae, with an office space, dry and wet laboratory, living quarters for visiting scientists and trainees and 32 concrete raceway tanks, is nationally operated under the Department of Economic Affairs with a primary focus on producing enough giant clam seedlings for the in-country potential grow out farms and for local and external food and aquarium trade markets. The Center is currently rearing tidacna gigas, tridacna maxima, tridacna squamosa and hippopus hippopus with a plan to diversify. The current strategy for the National Government is to encourage contacts with potential partners, joint venture companies and firms which may want to take over the operation.

The outlook for this industry overall is strong. Given the abundance of tuna in the FSM waters and its strategic location close to Japan, the fishing sector is expected to continue as the FSM’s major economic sector.

The FSM Government’s strategy for the fishing sector is to rely on and promote private sector fishing operations. This includes plans to privatize the current state-owned companies which operate the transshipping and processing facilities in each state, and to attract foreign long-liners to homeport in each of the FSM states.

While the licensing of foreign fishing vessels is a responsibility of the National Government, investment opportunities for long-lining, processing, and transshipping are being promoted at the state level, as specified in the respective State links.