Skip to main content

Development assistance in the Pacific

Pacific regional – fisheries assistance

We are a longstanding supporter of sustainable Pacific fisheries which are crucial for economic development, food security, nutrition and sustainability. Australia supports increased benefits to Pacific island countries (PICs) from sustainable commercial and subsistence fisheries and effective governance and ecosystem-based management mechanisms for sustainability.

Australian support is largely implemented through regional fisheries organisations. We are an active member of and contributor to the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency ($5 million annually) and to the Pacific Community ($3 million annually).

Australia’s strong partnership with the Forum Fisheries Agency serves to strengthen fisheries management and cooperation in the Pacific to ensure all PICs benefit from the sustainable use of tuna. This also supports the Forum Fisheries Agency to operate the Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre that coordinates regional operations to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Australia also implements additional programs to help our regional partners tackle IUU fishing, including through coordinated engagement under Australia's Pacific Maritime Security Program.

Photo of Tuna for sale at a fish market.
Tuna for sale at Auki market, Malaita province, Solomon Islands. Credit: Filip Milovac, WorldFish.

Our support to the Pacific Community helps underpin scientific monitoring and assessments needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of valuable offshore fish stocks, primarily tuna, and coastal fisheries that support food security.

Australia also provides support through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) for community-based fisheries management and aquaculture assistance to enhance food security, nutrition and improve livelihoods. Our third phase of support ($8 million, 2020-24) aims to scale up existing community-based fisheries management programs in Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu and extend the framework across the region.

Fafa Island, Tonga. Credit: Department of Environment and Energy.

Our assistance is guided by the following regional and Australian plans:

Related initiatives

Fisheries Development Assistance in the Pacific

Up to $142 million 2009-2023

Related documents*

Name of document Year published Type
Pacific Community Strategic Plan 2022-2031 2022 Strategic Plan
Pacific Framework for Action: Community-based Fisheries Management 2021-2025 2021 Program Plan
Pacific Maritime Boundaries Program - End of Investment Evaluation Report and Management response 2020 Evaluation Report and Management response
Mid-term Review Report of the Community Based Fisheries Management Phase 2 2019 Mid-term review
Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency - Strategic Plan 2020-2025 2019 Strategic plan
ACIAR-10-year-strategy-2018-2027 2018 Strategic plan
Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) – Independent Review of FFA's Performance [PDF 611 KB] 2017 Review report
Pacific Fisheries for Food Security Program Final Evaluation Report 2016 Evaluation

Related links

* The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is committed to high standards of transparency and accountability in the management of the Australian aid program through publishing information on our website, including policies, plans, results, evaluations and research. Our practice is to publish documents after the partner government and any other partners directly involved in the delivery of the initiative have been consulted. Not all material published on this site is created by the Australian aid program and therefore not all documents reflect our views. In limited circumstances, some information may be withheld for reasons including privacy and commercial sensitivity.

** Documents on this page may not meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. If you require fully accessible copies of documents, please contact OTP.AidEnquiries@dfat.gov.au

Back to top