Before 1982, eight small Pacific nations had no say in how their tuna fisheries operated, even though more than a fifth of the world’s tuna was found in their oceans. That is not the case any longer, and it is due to collective will, co-operation, and an innovative strategy that created what some call the “OPEC” of the tuna industry.

The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) is made up of eight Pacific island nations and Tokelau, who cooperatively manage the world’s largest tropical tuna fishery and have managed to keep tuna stocks in their waters in healthy numbers while increasing revenues dramatically. Today they control 14 million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean and 25% of the world’s tuna stocks, which brings them half a billion dollars a year while preventing the overfishing that has depleted the waters off most poor countries.

And, with help from conservation groups, it has been continuing to chart new directions in making the tuna fishery sustainable. Even during a worldwide pandemic that has devastated Pacific islands tourism, the fishery has continued to operate and helped to support the tiny island nations.