It is understood Frabelle Tuna Corp who are planning to establish a processing plant at Tenaru, East Guadalcanal has threatened to reconsider their plan to establish in the Solomon Islands.
This is after they learned of the proposed 25 bottlenose
dolphins planned to be exported to China from the Solomon Islands.
The company highlighted at the forum that this could
jeopardize the tuna company’s plan to create more than 2000 jobs for locals in
the country.
“Planned investments in the Solomon Islands are at great
risk jeopardizing jobs of nearly 2000 Solomon Islanders,” Frabelle
representatives were quoted saying.
The tuna company rep said while the government still breaks
international law catching dolphins without IUCN and CITES approval, the
citizens of the Solomon Islands will continue to lack jobs and a future.
“It is time for this government to enter the 21st century and end this trade in dolphins once and for all.”
Frabelle is based in Navatas City, Manila and has a fleet
of tuna purse seine vessels and support vessels operating in the Philippines,
Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island nations.
They have canning facilities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Indonesia with
markets in American Samoa, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain and Thailand to
name a few.
Meanwhile, Don Wong executives who also attended the meeting
were also reportedly disappointed with the Solomon Islands Government over the
dolphin issue.
This was after their meeting with Government officials
earlier this year in which the Government promised to address the dolphin issue
in the country.
The recent planned export was also at the top of the agenda
during the forum in which Solomon Islands was described as the only member
state that is still catching and selling dolphins.
The two-day forum involves around 200 representatives from Pacific Island countries, major tuna companies, industry organizations and regional organizations.
By DOUGLAS MARAU
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