Tokelau has lost more than 60 percent of its fishing revenue between February and June, according to New Zealand officials, following its expulsion from a key Pacific fisheries agreement.
The small self-governing territory was expelled from the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), which allows Pacific member countries to license fishing time in their waters, but no clear reason for the decision has yet emerged.
Correspondence released under the Official Information Act (OIA) revealed that Tokelau had been forced to revise its government budget “following significant loss of revenue” since the expulsion.
Offshore fisheries are Tokelau’s only source of independent revenue.
The minutes of a June meeting between New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Ulu o Tokelau Alapati Pita Tavite stated that: “NZ officials are working to better understand the matter in detail with a view to supporting Tokelau to seek readmission.”
Tokelau’s finances are not readily available. However, the latest estimate of revenue from its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), was about NZ$15 million in 2024.
Based on that figure, the loss could be near to NZ$9m – and that is just in five months.
As a result, Tokelau has become more dependent on New Zealand monetary assistance.
The New Zealand government has budgeted $138m for Tokelau between June 2024 and 2027, although no allowance has been made for the shortfall in Tokelau’s revenue.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has maintained that it is actively lobbying the PNA, the coalition of Pacific countries that administers the VDS, to re-admit Tokelau.
However, PNA officials may not be persuaded by MFAT’s lobbying, as concern has been raised about the degree to which New Zealand influences Tokelauan fisheries. New Zealand is not a PNA member.
RNZ Pacific has seen minutes taken from a PNA summit in November that included an “expression of regret at Tokelau’s situation with New Zealand”, but did not outline any clear path to readmit Tokelau to the scheme.
“Tokelau’s latest update in their letter to Parties was that New Zealand’s position was not likely to change, which meant that Tokelau could no longer operate as it used to.”
“Certain Parties were already experiencing the effects of this in their dealings with Tokelau which were now proving difficult; past activities done in the past, such as trading of days were now proving difficult to undertake with Tokelau.”
Shortly after this was reported, the minutes were removed from the PNA website.
A Tokelau government spokesperson refused to comment, calling the matter “sensitive”.
An MFAT spokesperson said New Zealand is voicing its support for Tokelau at regional fora.
“Tokelau is seeking readmission to the PNA Vessel Day Scheme as a priority and is engaging with PNA members directly.”
“The decision on Tokelau’s readmission to the VDS is a matter for PNA Ministers to consider.”
