Solomon Taiyo Ltd - tuna dreams realised?

Abstract

Rachel Schurman asserts that changing times in the global tuna industry made the 1970s and 1980s a difficult time for Pacific island countries to realise their dreams of development from the raw materials end of the tuna commodity chain (Schurman 1998). Schurman presents several enterprises as unsuccessful examples, including Solomon Taiyo Ltd (STL). Characterising STL as success or failure has been difficult because of an almost complete lack of recent information. This paper presents new information about an important example of foreign investment in a Pacific island tuna fishery and re-examines STL in light of Schurman's thesis.