The 56th session of the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Committee concluded at Kiribati has deliberated on a range of issues relating to the operations of the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Secretariat and the policy matters for the management of the Pacific region's tuna fishery. The meeting has sought a new Fisheries Commission, which would be established by the Convention for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific. The Convention is expected to come into force on the 19 June 2004 and thirteen of the seventeen members of FFA have so far ratified the Convention. The Committee has also agreed to adopt the practice of referring to the Agency as the "Pacific

Islands Forum Fisheries Agency." The FFA was established in 1979 to promote regional cooperation and coordination in respect of fisheries issues of the region. The seventeen members of the FFA are Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.