Commercial Fisheries Consultant
Advisory, Management, Feasibility, Planning & Policy Development

Maurice Brownjohn OBE

Order of the British Empire [OBE] - for “Service to the Fishing Industry in Papua New Guinea”
Nationality: Papua New Guinean [Naturalized in 1989] British by birth.

Areas of Expertise - Achievements

Experience

Lifetime hands on in the fishing industry, with extensive UK, Papua New Guinea and Pacific island fishery experience covering artisanal, aquaculture, small scale commercial and industrial fisheries, processing, policy, investment, branding and marketing in the private sector.

Also uniquely, having extensive experience in the public sector; on boards, in advisory roles to Governments and supporting/leading Government delegations to various international forums throughout the Central and Western Pacific, including WCPFC, Asia, EU and UN.

For 23 years ran my own net rigging company and consultancy, and for 14 years was the leading sashimi tuna longline operator in PNG. The last 13 years since 2010, as commercial manager for the PNA office in Majuro RMI, bridged both the region’s private and public sectors in the world’s largest tuna fishery.

Now offer a range of consultancy services.

Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) are Palau, FSM, RMI, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, Solomon Islands and PNG, with Tokelau working with the PNA group

Fishery management

Experience with a very small office managing the biggest tuna fishery globally with over 50% of global canning tuna harvested. Launching and managing the highly successful Vessel Day Scheme [VDS] as an effort control and in effect a conservation tool, which today sees the WCP as the healthiest tuna stocks globally. The “Green Tower”. Also with the development of the Fishery Information Management Systems [FIMS] it allows real-time management of vessels, observers and FADS, which serves both government compliance roles and as a tool for industry in vessel, MSC and product management programmes.

Sustainability, MSC and chain of custody

Under PNA led the initial MSC pre-assessment and successfully certified the Global first Purse seine tuna fishery for free school skipjack under MSC. Led the defence of the original certificate in December 2011, and recertification / adding yellowfin in 2016, and again defending in 2022. Due to the complexity of the fishery which is unlike any other with catch transhipped ungraded in the region, eligible and non eligible catch on board, and catch owned by industry whilst the certificate by NA nations led to a very comprehensive chain of custody (COC) and the MSC certified catch exclusively marketed under the PACIFICAL JV, with a geographical indicator integral in up to 200 million cans annually displaying the indicator and MSC, and with significant revenues back to PNA Parties. Due to the comprehensive COC from net to retail, it means unrivalled traceability for the product.

Bycatch utilisation, Micro canning and Food Security

Initiated late 2015, in RMI to address use of purse seine bycatch and the project continues today regionally. Due to food safety, all training is to TAFE standard and support for small scale canning ventures provided in the 8 PNA +1 nations looking primarily at utilising bycatch from purse seiners for domestic markets, for food security, and import replacement.

2018/19 Ausaid sponsored developing manuals, training materials and food security studies with targeted training conducted in Bougainville, Solomon islands, Tokelau, and Kiribati. Other training has been in RMI, PNG, Palau and Nauru. Each course was funded under Pacifical revenues, or self-funded by participants, except for recent Ausaid support. Interest is now much broader with interest from many 3^rd world island economies globally. Other work is also ongoing looking at using bycatch and processing wastes for fish and animal feeds. The product meets Australian standards as a “health food”, with up to 4 x the Omega oil content of regular canned tuna due to the “raw pack processing”

Industry development

Provide support to many investors both locally and globally in many areas including business planning , feasibilities, acquisitions and green field developments.

A lot of specialist work has been on FAD management and tracking.

Deep sea Mining

Many years of advisory work and the main advocate for the need for minimum terms and conditions for licensed ventures and the need for observer programmes and export assays to protect all parties. Ensure a fair and equitable return to the island nations, compatibility in adjacent high seas and minimal adverse impacts to the environment. Although controversial, it is going to happen and if done professionally it is a massive economic opportunity for small island vulnerable economies, if unregulated the risks are immense, and what is seen on land with mines and logging will repeat.

Participation in Books / Publications

Tuna Wars, November 2019

The tale of tuna is a journey without borders, through space and time, crossing distant oceans between every continent.

It is a journey from prehistory and the formation of civilisation to today’s globalised society. It tells a story from excess to scarcity and the need to design and implement policies that guarantee the fishing for future generations.

It is above all a journey of discovery into one of the most amazing fish in our seas, one that has profoundly influenced society and can teach us to reflect on how a sustainable global economy should proceed.

PNA 10th Year Anniversary Year Book 2019

A new Strategic Plan, a review of the PNA Office financial systems, and the development and implementation of the first Business Plan for the office. New financial systems and procedures were approved.

First 10 years of The PNA office

This is a story about a small group of island nations of the Pacific known as the PNA, an acronym for the parties to the Nauru Agreement. It is about how a group of countries, friends and colleagues — through their friendship, alliance, shared vision and desire to control their fisheries, so that they get a bigger and fairer share of their resources — put their heads together and created the largest capitalised tuna fishery in the world. It is a story about how in 2010 they embarked on a journey that has seen the transformation of the value of the economic returns from the tuna fishery from US$60 million in 2010 to around US$500 million by 2019; something that donors, regional organisations and political leaders have been trying to do for years, but could not. I am grateful to my former colleague Maurice Brownjohn who provided me with valuable comments and corrections on the various chapters.

Find Us on atuna.com News

PII Majuro Net Yard Development

Proudly supported the PII majuro net yard development

Participation in Video Documentaries

2018 work with MSC USA and GENOVA brand on a documentary on MSC yellowfin filmed in Majuro port.

2013 work with Eyeworks of Sweden on a documentary for Nat Geo on the MSC; with Majuro port and the PNA skipjack certification as a case study. Compared by Sir Richard Branson.

Brownjohn Consulting