Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum have endorsed a strengthened regional position on oceans, fisheries and deep sea minerals, according to a communiqué reported on 4 September 2026, reaffirming that “the ocean remains central to the sovereignty, security, prosperity, culture and identity of Pacific peoples.” The statement tasks the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner with coordinating the region’s preparations for the first Conference of the Parties to the BBNJ Agreement, the international treaty governing biodiversity in waters beyond national jurisdiction, due to convene in January 2027.
On fisheries, leaders formally endorsed the Vakamanu Regional Pacific Fisheries Strategy 2026-2035 as the overarching framework guiding management decisions across the region for the coming decade. They reaffirmed support for the East New Britain Initiative, which aims to establish a regional tuna processing hub in Papua New Guinea, and called for Pacific small island developing states to secure a greater share of value captured across the tuna supply chain, rather than exporting the bulk of the catch for processing elsewhere. Leaders also urged stronger measures against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing on the high seas, while cautioning that any new enforcement regime must not place a disproportionate compliance burden on smaller island states with limited monitoring capacity.
On maritime sovereignty, leaders reaffirmed the Forum’s 2021 Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones and its 2023 Declaration on the Continuity of Statehood, both designed to protect Pacific nations’ exclusive economic zones from being redrawn as sea-level rise shifts coastlines and baseline points. They committed to concluding outstanding maritime boundary treaties and depositing the relevant coordinates and charts with the United Nations, a step seen as locking in legal certainty over fishing and resource rights before rising seas complicate future negotiations.
Deep sea minerals proved the most delicate item on the agenda. Leaders endorsed recommendations under a Member-Led Regional Approach and backed a proposal for a shared regional data repository on deep sea mineral resources, alongside Vanuatu’s offer to contribute its Global Scientific Assessment of Deep Sea Ecosystems to a wider Pacific Deep Sea Knowledge Partnership. Crucially, the communiqué stresses that regional cooperation on the issue remains guided by individual member leadership “without prejudice to the sovereign rights of Members” over their own national resources, a formulation that papers over continuing divisions between Pacific states that support seabed mining exploration and those, including Fiji and Palau, that have called for a moratorium.
Leaders also renewed calls for a binding global agreement covering the full life cycle of plastics, backed a proposed Pacific-specific Regional Extended Producer Responsibility Framework, and welcomed progress under the Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership, whose charter has now been signed by Fiji, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Tonga. Tonga’s concerns over humpback whale protection prompted a call for further action on migratory corridors and Antarctic krill stocks, while leaders welcomed a Declaration on Traditional Navigation as a form of Pacific cultural heritage, presented by Palau’s Great Council of Chiefs and the Micronesian Voyaging Society.
The communiqué’s deliberately cautious language on deep sea mining reflects a Forum working to maintain regional unity on an issue where member states disagree, even as they present a largely united front on fisheries management, maritime boundaries and plastics, three areas where consensus has proved easier to reach.
