The PNG Fisheries Development Project (FDP) – ADB Loan to the PNG Government of US$10 million over the 3-year period 1999-2003. This project was designed under a prior ADB technical assistance project, and GPA was selected through a competitive tender process to carry out implementation. Elements of the project included:
- Complete restructuring of the former Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources into a non-commercial statutory authority, the PNG National Fisheries Authority (NFA). Development of legal documents and arrangements to enable the new Authority, including Corporate Plan, Work Programme and performance measures;
- Management of organisational downsizing from 440 staff to 68 contract positions, development of new job descriptions, pay scales and performance-based contracts;
- Continuous in-service training for all headquarters and field staff in new organisational systems and procedures;
- Revision and updating of fisheries legislation, regulations and management plans;
- Development of financial and administrative management information systems covering NFA accounts, fishery licensing, fish catch and effort data, fishery offences and penalties, fishery product imports and exports, and fishery rvenues;
- Increase in foreign fishery access revenue collected from PGK 4 million in 1999 to PGK 44 million in 2002 (more than enough to cover the cost of the project);
- Construction of three new fisheries wharves and associated infrastructure in PNG.
NFA remains today the strongest and most technically capable fishery management agency in the Pacific Islands region. The establishment and success of the institutional model was observed by other countries of the region, several of which have restructured their own fishery administrations in a similar way. GPA has supported that restructuring process in Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and (currently) Tuvalu.