Page 36 - IB MAR 2019

Indepth

For tuna and the islands

Former FFA boss reflects on Pacific tuna politics

AFTER running his family’s fishing business for most of his adult available at www.islandsbusnesscom
life and then spending eight years at the Pacific’s regional fisheries
management agency, has James Movick earned the honorary title IB: How are you spending your time now that you have
of ‘Old Man of the Sea’? successfully completed your two, three-year terms as
To find out, Islands Business publisher Samisoni Pareti had a (vir- Director General of the FFA?
tual) sit down interview with Movick, offering him the opportunity to
review his years with the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and share James Movick: I am currently providing some consulting services
some insights into the difficult issues he grappled with in leading to the Office of the FSM President, assisting to analyse and recom-
negotiations with powerful nations over the Pacific’s much sought- mend policy issues primarily in fisheries and regional arrangements.
after resource. This arrangement allows me to get reacquainted with FSM issues and
A condensed version of the interview follows, with the full version organisation after eight years away, while providing some degree of
public service back to my country for supporting my candidacy and
tenure at FFA. In addition, I am still engaged in some regional work
stemming from initiatives that I was involved in as FFA DG. In
particular I am the Chairman of the Reference Group for
the Pacific Fusion Centre that is under consideration
by Australia and the Pacific Islands Forum Secre-
tariat. Apart from that, I continue to advocate my
firm belief that we must responsibly manage
our fisheries and oceanic resources for the
benefit of our Pacific peoples in line with
the Blue Pacific identity.

IB: What would you list as
some of the highlights of your
work at FFA?

JM: The accomplishments
of FFA are a function of the
hard work and commit-
ment of the FFA secretariat
team and FFA members,
the support of development
partners, and the vision and
leadership of fisheries ministers
and heads of government.
During my tenure high-lights
of the Agency’s accomplishments
include the following:
• Increased regional under-
standing and support for the basic
Zone Rights-Based Management
legal framework that underpins PIC
capability and success in oceanic
fisheries management and increased
financial returns
• With the Marine Resources
Assessment Group study on regional
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU)
fishing and the adoption of the regional
Monitoring, Control and Surveillance

James Movick former FFA boss

36 Islands Business, Mar c h 2019
36 Islands Business, March 2019