Tri Marine Sponsors World Tuna Day Festival

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Today marks the beginning of the 5th annual weekend-long World Tuna Day festival.

Two of Tri Marine International’s subsidiaries in the Solomons, National Fisheries Developments Limited (NFD) and SolTuna Limited (SolTuna), are major sponsors and active participants in a celebration that recognizes the significance of the tuna industry and the role it plays in Solomon Islands and other Pacific island economies.

The theme for this year’s event is “Growing Our Tuna” and will feature a number of highly anticipated community activities.

Adrian Wickham, Managing Director of SolTuna said, “We are honored to help organize and sponsor this important event.

“Tuna is part of our identity. It is more than a business or a job to us. It is a way of life.”

The economic impact of tuna in the Pacific islands is substantial.

Total catch of tuna in the Central and Western Pacific region is nearly three million tonnes, representing about 60 percent of the world’s tuna supplies and valued at more than $5 billion.

The catch in Solomon Islands’ waters is about 150,000 tonnes annually.

About 20 percent of that (or roughly 30,000 tonnes) is caught by NFD and processed locally at SolTuna.

Together, NFD and SolTuna employ over 2,000 people, providing much needed employment in a rural area of Solomon Islands.

A press statement from Tri Marine says the Solomon Islands’ tuna industry has a truly global reach.

SolTuna’s production is exported to regional markets, to the European Union and the USA.

SolTuna is also is an important supplier to the Solomon Islands’ domestic market, where it distributes over 30 million cans of tuna each year.

With a population of more than 500,000, that’s almost 60 cans per person.

Wickham says, “When one industry is such a critical part of the everyday life of a community, it is important to take the time to recognize and celebrate tuna and what it means for our people.”

Some of the activities planned for the weekend include:

  • Tuna Marketplace – stalls will be set up to sell island food and drinks.
  • Tuna Speech Competition – a high school speech competition based on the 2016 theme, “Growing Our Tuna.”
  • Tuna Song Competition – an opportunity for local musicians to compose and present songs related to tuna and its importance for the people
  • Tuna Quiz – a tuna ‘fun-fact’ competition.
  • Tuna Dish Competition – a tuna cooking challenge.
  • Tuna Parade – a parade in which workers from both NFD and SolTuna participate.

Other activities include music and entertainment, provided by the local bamboo bands, dancing, and children’s games, including a coloring competition.

 

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