Corporate entry: Solomon-Taiyo Ltd.

Details

Solomon-Taiyo Ltd. began on 4 November 1972. A joint-venture agreement for the first ten years gave Japanese company Taiyo Gyogyo 75 percent and the BSIP government 25 percent equity ownership. A new ten-year agreement was signed in 1982 with an equal 50/50 partnership, after which the Solomon Islands government shareholding automatically rose to 51 percent. The main purpose was to supply tuna for Taiyo Gyogyo and Japanese marketing and distribution, to promote goodwill and further business dealings with Japan, and to generate foreign exchange credits and to provide canned fish for the local market. About 75 percent of the catch was transhipped frozen to canneries in American Samoa, Fiji and the United States, and 20 percent was thawed and canned at the Solomons Tulagi cannery. The remaining 5 percent was used in the Arabushi Smoke Factory and exported to Japan to make soup stock. The initial fleet consisted of pole-and-line catcher boats owned by Taiyo, and Okinawan charter boats. Exclusive fishing rights were negotiated over the fish-rich 'Slot' (q.v.) between the two main island chains, and exports began in 1974. Noro, in New Georgia, began to be used as a fishing port, and eventually the Tulagi cannery was replaced by a modern cannery at Noro, which is now the centre of the industry. (Meltzoff and LiPuma 1986; Moore 2004b, 79-83)

Related Places

Published resources

Books

  • Moore, Clive, Happy Isles in Crisis: The Historical Causes for a Failing State in Solomon Islands, 1998-2004, Asia Pacific Press, Canberra, 2004b, ix, 265 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Meltzoff, Sarah K., and LiPuma, Edward, 'Hunting for Tuna and Cash in the Solomons: A Rebirth of Artisanal Fishing in Malaita', Human Organization, vol. 45, no. 1, Spring, pp. 53-62. Details