After six days of meetings, Pacific Fisheries officials began another week of fisheries talks yesterday with a poignant silence.
Delegates at the 102nd session of the Forum Fisheries Committee, or FFC, paused to honour and remember two Ministerial leaders who have passed away in the last six months.
Tuvalu's Elisala Pita, a long-time politician and Minister for Natural Resources and the Environment, had just completed his term as Chair of the FFC and handed over to Minister Matai Seremaiah Nawalu, in Vanuatu last July.
He passed away in Tuvalu weeks later.
Nauru's Valdon Dowiyogo, was Minister for Health, Transport, Sports and Fisheries at the time of his passing while on official travel to Russia. in December.
The minute of silence came after Australia's head of delegation Ian Thompson took the Chair from Vanuatu's Kalo Pakoa, who has chaired FFC since May 2016.
FFC is the principal governance arm of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, with sessions this week taking their annual review of management, administrative and governance structures as well as performance and policy milestones towards the upcoming Forum Fisheries Ministerial in July.
Australia's Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries in Australia, Anne Ruston, led opening formalities along with FFA Director-General James Movick. Nauru's new minister for Fisheries Shadlock Bernicke and his Assistant Minister Milton Dube are heading their FFC delegation according to a statement.
It's the 102 FFC session and the 38th annual round of their meetings-- the FFC is comprised of two layers -- heads of fisheries, and Ministers, and is mandated by the FFA's 1979 founding Convention. Also attending are Observers from French Polynesia, New Caledonia and American Samoa, as well as key partners SPC, PIFS, WCPFC and the PNA, and a range of development and NGO stakeholders.