Fishing access

The deal between the two countries struck last month comes on top of the United States' regional arrangement for access to tuna via the vessel day scheme.

The Finance Minister Mark Brown said the US firms like the way the Cook Islands manages its fishery and it had established a reputation for being fair and reasonable.

"They want additional days from our surplus stock of vessel fishing days that we have available so we've managed to sell to the US fleets another hundred days of fishing access."

A $1 million deal was signed with RD Fisheries of Philippines, a new partner for Nauru, with more deals expected and a $3 million deal was inked with the Korea Overseas Fisheries Agency.

The Minister of Fisheries, reporting to Parliament on progress, said these deals had been secured despite low fish prices and La Nina favouring countries to the West.