TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MR. BERNARD THOULAG

The Chairman, Ambassador Satya Nandan, and the past and current staff of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission wish to pay tribute to the late Mr. Bernard Thoulag along with many of the Commission Members and Participating Territories who have already sent their separate condolences to Bernard’s family.

We wish to echo the many tributes already paid to Bernard, as a Colleague and as our good friend. He was always the friendly advisor to the Commission and various meetings in which he participated. He had the reputation of being the sage and considered second opinion on many issues. He also had that ability to splice the differences of others into a workable solution to problems. His contributions to the Pacific Island Countries in fisheries matters cannot be underestimated, and we note that it went beyond the Pacific Island developing countries to the wider international community. Bernard worked untiringly in his support to, and work for his people of FSM, for the people of the Pacific Islands, and also for the countries who fished in the WCPFC Convention Area. He worked to develop appropriate agreements for tuna fishing in the South Pacific. He never lost sight of the need to bring home the benefits of the fisheries being harvested in Micronesia’s waters.

From the beginning, he believed in, and worked hard on the idea of a wider forum to discuss and agree on the management of the tuna fisheries that are so important to many Pacific Island States. He worked to ensure that all parties worked together and to balance the benefits back to the countries in whose waters the fishing occurred, including FSM. The greatest tribute of trust that the 25 Members of the Tuna Commission and the 7 Participating Territories could give Bernard for his work is evident if one looks at the WCPFC Tuna Commission Headquarters. The fact that through Bernard’s urging and work over the 6-8 years of development of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission – those same 25 international Members of the Commission listened and believed in Bernard and his colleagues from Micronesia enough to establish the WCPFC Commission Headquarters in the Federated States of Micronesia. The Commission Headquarters is the centre for tuna fisheries management for all 25 Members, including both the Pacific Small Island developing States, and the large international fishing nations of the world from China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and USA. The Headquarters is here because of the efforts of Bernard and the trust that Members had in him and the people of Micronesia.

So although we wish Bernard’s family our heartfelt condolences, we also want to remind everyone that he will remain with us every time we look at the WCPFC Commission Headquarters here in Pohnpei. This is the standing international tribute to our friend who worked up to the last for his country. We will miss him greatly.