PRESS RELEASE
NIWA PROJECT MANAGEMENT GROUP (PMG) MEETING, nOVEMBER 08, 2022
[Sopu, Tongatapu, November 08, 2022]- The meeting of the PMG for the NIWA Project was held at the Ministry of Fisheries on the 8th November, 2022. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) Project is funded by the New Zealand (NZ) Government, aiming to manage and develop the deepwater snapper fisheries. The meeting was chaired and opened by the CEO for Fisheries, Dr. Tu’ikolongahau Halafihi. The CEO welcomed the PMG members who were representatives from the NIWA, SPC, NZ Ministry of Primary Industry (MPI), National Fisheries Council (NFC) and representative each from Vava’u and Ha’apai.
More specifically, the purpose of the meeting was to follow up on agreed actions from the last PMG meeting and look at the way forward. The PMG meeting is a progressive report meeting with the NFC and key Fisheries stakeholders on the progress of Phase II MOU. They discussed the way forward in ensuring the achievement of targeted Fisheries of the project, particularly Squids and Snappers. They also discussed the government assistance program which focuses primarily on vessels fishing for tuna and snapper and informed the PMG that 10 Deepwater Snapper vessels are now operating (up from 8 since the previous PMG). They were also updated on recent Deepwater landings, Squid fishing and landing, and other Fishery Diversification activities
The NIWA project also strengthens the capacity and knowledge of Fisheries technical staff on data analysis using certain R- packages.
For more information, please contact:
Kilisitina Akimeta, Ministry of Fisheries, Tonga
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