The island national of Vanuatu now receives about VT 100 million ($909,382) annually from its 125 licensed tuna fishing boats, reports the Vanuatu Daily Post.
In 2012 the country was given a yellow flag by the European Union because of management issues. The number of Vanuatu flagged boats was reduced following the incident.
As a result of the yellow flag warning the government took a number of measures to rectify the situation including enacting a new fisheries legislation,” said William Naviti, the department of fisheries’ manager for compliance.
Then in 2014 the EU, happy with the developments, removed the yellow flag and gave Vanuatu a maximum of 150 ships annually to be licensed by Vanuatu.”