Saudi Arabia has given the green light to six Indonesian tuna and seafood processing companies to export their products to the Middle East nation. One of the organizations is PT Pahala Bahari Nusantara, a manufacturer of pre-cooked tuna loins, flakes, pouch tuna, fish oil, and tuna fishmeal. The volumes that would be traded were not revealed.

The Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) and the nation’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency have been in talks with Saudi Arabian officials over the past few months to close the deal, which was approved earlier this week. A KKP spokesperson said that this latest agreement “is believed to have a significant impact on increasing export volumes and diversifying fishery commodities shipped from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia,” reported Indonesian news sites. Last week, in a virtual meeting, the two countries’ Trade Ministers discussed various ways to boost business, soon after which the Indonesian tuna firms’ products were allowed entry into the Middle East nation.

St.Paul’s Bay-based bluefin farm, Azzopardi Fisheries, is accused of being the origin of sea slime that has been a cause of concern for Maltese authorities and beach-goers for the past few weeks. A group of environmentalists and concerned citizens gathered in front of the company last week, as part of the campaign ‘Dardartu Lilna, Dardartu Baħar,’ which translates in English to ‘Darkness to Us, Darkness to the Sea,’ urging the company to take steps to clean up. The protesters also slammed the Fisheries Ministry for its silence and inaction.

Charles Azzopardi, owner of the farm, said he deployed three vessels to clean the slime. When asked the reason for the sludge to spread, he said that he does not know and it has never been like this, reported news site Times of Malta. Meanwhile, the Maltese environmental watchdog, the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), is likely to fine the firm causing the issue, but did not confirm that it will be Azzopardi Fisheries. The news site reported that ERA is still in the process of taking action and calculating the administrative penalty. Several tourists and locals took to social media to share how the slime has been impacting them, with beachgoers slipping and having minor injuries, which were among the most common complaints.

Thirty-two fisheries observers, newly hired by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR), completed the ‘Knowing Your Public Service (KYPS)’ training last week. The week-long event was attended by observers from different parts of the island nation, who will be working on tuna and other fishing vessels. MFMR asserted that KYPS is a key requirement for all staff who are employed in the Public Service. The training is designed to equip new or probationary public servants with an understanding of government structures, roles, responsibilities, ethics, and professional standards. An MFMR spokesperson said that a similar training will be give to observers currently deployed on tuna and other fishing vessels.

The funding for the training was provided by the World Bank through the Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program for Economic Resilience (PROPER) Project, an initiative to enhance the sustainable management and economic resilience of Pacific Island countries’ fisheries and marine ecosystems, read a MFMR Facebook post.