Early effects of Covid-19 on the Pacific fisheries
It is still too early to tell how the world will deal with the longer term effects of Covid-19, will it shrug it off and return to normal? Does Covid-19 provide new opportunities to do things differently? Is there an opportunity for things to be better? In the Pacific and for Pacific Islanders both the value of tuna resources (renewable if managed properly) and the fact that more benefits should be flowing directly to Pacific Islanders have been acknowledged for sometime.
However, how to realise more benefits for Pacific Islanders from a resource that they have the exclusive rights to manage and benefit from, while dealing with threats from multiple sources, is a complex challenge with no simple answer.
Thankfully, Dr Transform Aqorau, has published an excellent and thought provoking piece titled: COVID-19 and its likely impact on the tuna industry in the Pacific Islands
Amongst other things, Dr Transform points to increased cooperation among Pacific Island governments and more involvement of Pacific Islanders. His piece supports an interesting idea that Covid-19 gives rise to- do we want to go back to the old normal or is there an opportunity for something better?
Dr Transform's full article can be viewed either below or where it was first published, the Devpolicy blog: here