Cook Islands Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR) officials began an eight-week national tuna management plan consultation this week, with the first round of sessions happening in the most remote parts of the nation – te pa enua Tokerau.
The meetings will focus on a ten-year Tuna Management and Development Plan (TMDP) to build economic returns, stakeholder engagement, and a long-term future for tuna fisheries.
Starting in Motutapu and Omoka on Penrhyn, the consultation will move through Manihiki and Pukapuka before Aitutaki meetings begin the Southern group visits. Rarotonga meetings will feature later in September.
The open- invite meetings are sharing scientific and policy updates, hear community questions, and collate insights for the artisanal and commercial sectors of the fishery that benefits all Cook Islanders. MMR Secretary Pamela Maru led the first public session in Tetautua (Motutapu) on Monday.
She said the draft plan will remain a “living document” open to ongoing feedback. The MMR team is working closely with island councils, Aronga mana and church leaders, with a strong focus on hearing from fishers, youth, women, private sector, and anyone keen to pitch their tuna-facing ideas.
Dr Steven Hare, a fisheries scientist from the Pacific Community, joined the discussions. Drafting and other technical support has come from the Forum Fisheries Agency, and Australian Fisheries Management Authority.
Maru said they are addressing challenges like climate change, illegal fishing, and bycatch management, whilst enhancing the value of the fishery, supporting livelihoods development, and ensuring the national tuna management plan reflects local realities.
“We began in Penrhyn and the northern Pa Enua because most of our tuna fishing happens in the north,” Maru said. “The strong community interest shows how much Cook Islanders care about sustainably managing this resource and unlocking economic opportunities.”
The tuna fishery currently provides about one hundred tonnes annually for local consumption, an area the plan seeks to increase. Penrhyn sessions discussed possibilities such as in-port transshipment and observer jobs – with island mayor Rangitava Taia welcoming the discussions as an important economic route to opportunities unique to his people, particularly in raising awareness around already existing support across artisanal and emerging opportunities in commercial tuna fisheries.
“We are developing a plan that is forward looking, shaped by input from Cook Islanders, and adaptive to the needs and sovereign interests of the Cook Islands,” Maru said, “We’ve only just begun the consultation process, but what we’ve heard is providing us some key insights for a plan favouring sustainability, economic benefit, and a strong role for the Cook Islands in the regional fishery and global tuna supply chain.”
