Aku! the History of Tuna Fishing in Hawaii and the Western Pacific

Peter Wilson has played a key role in thedevelopment of the worlds largest and mostimportant tuna resource in the Western Pacifi c. Aft er studying Japanese and Fisheries at theUniversity of Washingtons College of Fisheries hebecame one of the initi al users of SCUBA gear forcommercial fi shing. He was then hired by BumbleBee Seafood Company to conduct fi sheries surveysin Japan, Okinawa, Palau, Palmyra, French Frigate Shoals, Johnston Island,Midway and elsewhere. Aft er establishing arti fi cial reefs in Guam and using explosives to createimproved ocean circulati on in Tumon Bay for tourism development,he was retained by the Micronesian governments to head up fi sheriesdevelopment for Palau, FSM and the Marshall Islands. During this periodhe established the fi rst commercial tuna fi shing operati on in the WesternPacifi c aft er WWII and dive industries in Palau and Truk (Chuuk). He then went to Oman to prepare a Five Year Fisheries DevelopmentProgram and was then retained by FAO to serve as the Director of Fisheriesand Advisor to Government of Papua New Guinea for seven years to headup their fi sheries operati ons,He then created Global Ocean Consultants and was then selected by theRepublic of Maldives to establish a World Bank fi nanced tuna industryon a small atoll with no harbor, housing, power or water. GOC providedmanagement and training services for fi ve years and during this periodestablished a profi table cannery, can manufacturing plant, fi shmeal plantand brought producti on up to over 60 tons a day.