Fishing alliance elects new leader

PACIFIC – The Parties to the Nauru Agreement, PNA, have named a new Chief executive officer who will take over from outgoing CEO Transform Aqorau.

Ludwig Kumoru, deputy managing director of Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority, is expected to take over as PNA CEO from August 1 this year.

He was endorsed for the post by unanimous consent of the eight countries that are PNA members at the annual meeting last week in Kiribati after he was ranked as the top choice for the position by an independent search panel.

Kumoru said he was happy about being selected by PNA members and is looking forward to the many challenges presented by leading this bloc of nations that control waters where 50 per cent of the global supply of skipjack tuna is caught.

“I am pleased to be leaving the office in capable hands,” said Dr Aqorau following the decision by PNA members to hire Kumoru.

“He brings skills of working with fishing states from a national perspective and has a good understanding of the Pacific tuna fishery. He is highly regarded and respected by his peers in PNA,” he said.

In addition to his tenure as deputy managing director of PNG’s National Fisheries Authority, Kumoru is a member of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s Scientific Committee that reviews tuna stock assessments and issues recommendations regarding sustainability of the resource.

Kumoru said PNA has many opportunities for expanding initiatives to the benefit of the islands.

Going forward, the “challenge is to come up with ideas to add more value to the PNA fishery,” he said.

The Parties to the Nauru Agreement are eight Pacific Island countries that control the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery supplying 50 percent of the world’s skipjack tuna.

Its members are Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu. - RNZI