Supervising Minister for the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon. John Moffat Fugui, says the closing of the waters is necessary to ensure that Solomon Islands, a member of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, PNA, and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission complies with the hard limits imposed recently.

He says Solomon Islands' was initially allocated 2,146 fishing days for this year from the PNA which has already been exhausted in early June. Mr Fugui says this is due to "the exceptionally high fishing activities for the early months of this year."

"Closing our waters from purse seine fishing will be reviewed after we purchase additional days from any of the PNA member countries," said Mr Fugui in a press statement.