Pacific Island nations will take more control over the southern albacore tuna fishery after reaching a historic agreement on joint harvest control measures.

In the past 10 years, an influx of new boats to the albacore fishery, including large numbers of heavily-subsidised Chinese vessels, have depleted fish stocks and driven many Pacific-island tuna businesses to the wall.

Officials from the Pacific Forum Fishery Agency (FFA) countries, meeting in Solomon Islands, have agreed on the text for a framework for managing the fishery, known as the Tokelau Arrangement for the Management of the South Pacific Longline Fishery.

The meeting's chair and Samoa's ministry of agriculture and fisheries assistant chief executive, Joyce Samuelu Ah Leong, said catch limits will be set.

The agreement takes in millions of square kilometres of ocean stretching across the Pacific from the Cook Islands in the east to Solomon Islands in the west.

"It is quite a huge step for us," Ms Ah Leong said.

"There is sacrifice by Pacific island countries to limit themselves to such limits.

"We have understood that if we do not fish below the maximum sustainable yield we will continue to see the decline (in fish stocks) and the most vulnerable will be our own domestic fleets."

Most fishing is done by powerful distant water fishing nations (DWFNs) such as China, Japan and South Korea, under licence from the Pacific nations.

Members of the Forum Fisheries Agency have put the DWFNs on notice.

"We will simply say, 'Well, we have this amount for this year as soon as that limit is reached then fishing needs to stop'," Ms Ah Leong said.

Power imbalance in fishing deals

In the past cash-strapped Pacific countries have found it hard to say no to lucrative fishing licence deals.

In a straight-talking address at the beginning of the meeting Forum Fisheries director general James Movich told delegates they have bargaining chips.

"You have the advantage of owning the home ground - you control the majority of the area where long-line fishing occurs," he said.

"And you have the advantage of a proven capacity and tradition to cooperate.

"Small countries, fast on their feet, working together as a team, can achieve tuna management outcomes that are difficult for large nations, desperate to maintain their individual market share."

The urgency of problems in the southern albacore fishery has forced Pacific nations to act quickly but it did not leave time to ensure the Tokelau Arrangement would be binding on all parties.

"Ideally it would have been," Ms Ah Leong said.

Mr Movick said even though the arrangement is not binding "it is very important that we each have a clear understanding that the decisions that will be taken by the participants must be adhered to".

The Tokelau Arrangement comes into effect as it is signed by the parties.

Potential parties within the FFA include Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Non-FFA Pacific territories such as New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and American Samoa are also considering becoming parties to the Tokelau Arrangement.

The Tokelau Arrangement will only apply in the 200-mile exclusive economic zones of its parties.

To address issues in international waters the officials at the Honiara meeting approved a new conservation and management measure (CMM) for southern albacore tuna that they plan put to the December meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

The WCPFC brings the distant water fishing nations together with the Pacific nations to decide on fisheries management issues.