Analysis: Tokelau - made up of three atolls with a total population of about 1500 people - benefited hugely from joining a Pacific tuna cartel in 2012.
The impact of being part of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) was so significant that revenue generated from its lucrative fishery quickly accounted for as much as 40 percent of the national budget for this non-self-governing territory of New Zealand.
But all that came to a halt early this year, when the PNA terminated Tokelau's participation in PNA's Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) that manages the purse seine industry in Pacific waters, where over half the world's tuna is caught.
Up until now, the termination of Tokelau's participation with the eight-member PNA has been shrouded in mystery. New Zealand government officials have repeatedly stated that "Tokelau is seeking readmission to the PNA Vessel Day Scheme" and that New Zealand supports Tokelau's efforts.
But documents obtained this week, including correspondence between Tokelau and PNA fisheries leaders, tell an entirely different story, with one former Tokelau leader citing New Zealand's "interference" in Tokelau's fisheries management that undermined Tokelau's participation in the PNA.
In response to an inquiry, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said on Thursday: "There has been no material change to the management of Tokelau's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and offshore fisheries.
"While New Zealand remains responsible for Tokelau's EEZ under international law, Tokelau has consistently managed the day-to-day operation of its offshore fisheries within the EEZ. This has not changed."
Tokelauan and PNA fisheries officials tell a different story. They describe New Zealand action starting in 2024 to increasingly oversee Tokelau's Fisheries Management Agency - action that Tokelau officials themselves pointed out to the PNA because it threatened the basis on which Tokelau, as a territory of New Zealand, had been accepted into the PNA in 2012.
All eight members of the PNA, established in 1982, are independent Pacific countries.
"Tokelau's participation in the PNA arrangements had been premised on its ability to exercise a sufficient degree of operational autonomy over the management of fisheries within its Exclusive Economic Zone," Dr Transform Aqorau, the founding CEO of the PNA Office in Majuro, said this week.
"This autonomy had enabled Tokelau to participate directly in the Vessel Day Scheme and related PNA arrangements, while also supporting its aspirations for greater economic independence," he said.
"However, the position changed when New Zealand increased its oversight of Tokelau's fisheries management and operations. Tokelau advised the PNA that this had materially constrained its ability to make independent decisions concerning its fisheries."
In 2023, at the formal opening of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement headquarters building in Majuro, founding PNA Office CEO Dr Transform Aqorau congratulated fisheries leaders from the region for the organisation's unprecedented accomplishment of raising tuna revenue generated from the fishery US$60 million to $500 million annually, while sustainably managing the tuna fishery.
PNA-related officials note that New Zealand officials have been lobbying PNA members to reinstate Tokelau since its membership was ended early this year.
But Aqorau said "the principal obstacle is not Tokelau itself".
"Tokelau has been a valued and respected participant and has benefited significantly from its involvement in the VDS. The difficulty arises from New Zealand's intervention in the management to Tokelau's exclusive economic zone and the conditions it appears to have imposed on Tokelau's administration and delegation."
Kiribati Fisheries and Ocean Resources Minister Ribanataake Tiwau, who chaired the PNA in 2025, confirmed this in a November 2025 letter to PNA ministers from the eight island nation members.
"Tokelau's participation with PNA was related to New Zealand having allowed Tokelau, at the time, increased autonomy in its fisheries management, with a view to Tokelau moving toward economic independence," said Tiwau. "It seems now, however, that New Zealand has changed its policy approach from allowing Tokelau increased authority, back to its status as a non-self-governing territory of New Zealand."
PNA leaders in late 2024 and again in 2025 gave Tokelau more time to try to resolve this issue with New Zealand in order for it to continue its status as a party to PNA's Vessel Day Scheme.
"Despite our efforts, Tokelau has been unable to resolve these issues," then-Tokelau Fisheries Minister Otinielu Tuumuli said in a 13 November 2025 letter to the PNA chairman Tiwau from Kiribati.
