Dr. Elizabeth Havice and colleague Dr. Liam Campling (Queen Mary, University of London) have recently returned from the Solomon Islands where they offered a week-long training on trade and fisheries, hosted by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA). Twenty-four individuals working in trade, legal and fisheries departments in 12 different FFA member countries participated in the training. Small and remote island states, FFA member countries are well known for their rich fisheries resources, especially tuna, and their large ocean jurisdictions though which they connect to global markets with high demand for marine resources and leverage domestic and regional economic development and food security. Havice and Campling’s segment of the larger training program focused on the relationship between trade policy and fisheries development in the Pacific and included modules on trade theory and history, market access, global value chains, as well as simulated negotiations on active fisheries trade debates. Havice and Campling were excited by the information and expertise exchange across trade and fisheries divisions and to have the opportunity to connect their classrooms to pressing real-world economic development and environmental issues. FFA coverage identified the event as an important part of building capacity to achieve the region’s Future of Fisheries Roadmap and lauded that almost three quarters of participants were women.
