Contact:
Fisheries Information Section
Section Information halieutique
SPC/CPS
BP D5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex
95 Promenade Roger Laroque,
Anse Vata
New-Caledonia / Nouvelle-Calédonie
Tel.: +687 26.20.00
Fax: +687 26.38.18

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Produced by the Information Section, Marine Resources Division, SPC, B.P. D5, 98848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia. Fax: (687) 263818; E-mail: cfpinfo@spc.int with financial assistance from France.

Editorial

Several important meetings were held during this quarter. The Fourth Heads of Fisheries took place in Noumea, New Caledonia, from 30 August to 3 September 2004. This meeting is the sole occasion when the people in charge of the fisheries sector in the Pacific Island countries and territories can get together to examine the overall situation and problems with regards to fisheries, share their experiences with their colleagues, and provide invaluable advice and guidance to the staff of the SPC Marine Resources Division. More on the outcomes of this meeting can be found in this newsletter from pages 2 to 6.

The seventeenth meeting of the Standing Committee on Tuna and Billfish (SCTB) was held from 9 to 18 August 2004 in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands. This was the last SCTB as with the coming into force of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean in June 2004, the new Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission will take over SCTB's role. The first meeting of the Commission is planned for December 2004.

Jean-Paul Gaudechoux
Fisheries Information Adviser (jeanpaulg@spc.int)