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

Peter Wilson has played a key role in the development of the worlds largest and most important tuna resource in the Western Pacifi c. Aft er studying Japanese and Fisheries at the University of Washingtons College of Fisheries he became one of the initi al users of SCUBA gear for commercial fi shing. He was then hired by Bumble Bee Seafood Company to conduct fi sheries surveys in 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 create improved ocean circulati on in Tumon Bay for tourism development, he was retained by the Micronesian governments to head up fi sheries development for Palau, FSM and the Marshall Islands. During this period he established the fi rst commercial tuna fi shing operati on in the Western Pacifi c aft er WWII and dive industries in Palau and Truk (Chuuk). He then went to Oman to prepare a Five Year Fisheries Development Program and was then retained by FAO to serve as the Director of Fisheries and Advisor to Government of Papua New Guinea for seven years to head up their fi sheries operati ons, He then created Global Ocean Consultants and was then selected by the Republic of Maldives to establish a World Bank fi nanced tuna industry on a small atoll with no harbor, housing, power or water. GOC provided management and training services for fi ve years and during this period established a profi table cannery, can manufacturing plant, fi shmeal plant and brought producti on up to over 60 tons a day.