SYDNEY, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The impasse on fishing access for the U.S. tuna fleet into one of the world's most lucrative fisheries islands has ended after the Pacific islands and the United States agreed to a new multilateral access and aid treaty.
Administered by the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Fisheries Agency (FFA), the 28-year-old South Pacific Tuna Treaty was on the verge of collapse in the first half of 2016 following a significant impasse on fishing access fees following the collapse in tuna prices last year.
The treaty is the Pacific's most important aid, trade and geopolitical agreement governing the U.S. fleet's access to the Skipjack Tuna fishery in the South Pacific, providing much needed aid via the purchase of fishing days, or fishing effort, as well as fisheries surveillance by the U.S. military.
The treaty's negotiation, which had been on shaky ground over the past five months, ended at the weekend with an agreement to give the U.S. tuna fleet more flexibility in their access while the pacific nations get more control over their maritime Exclusive Economic Zones.
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