Tonga’s future is unfolding in Antarctic waters

By H.E. the Honorable Lord Fakafanua, Prime Minister of Tonga

When Pacific leaders meet, we speak for nations whose futures are inseparable from the ocean. Yet some of the decisions affecting our people are made thousands of kilometres away, in negotiating rooms where Pacific countries are few and Large Ocean States are wholly absent.

Such is the case for the management of Antarctica’s marine biodiversity, which is vested in the votes of the 27 members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the international organization in charge of managing and (technically) protecting the Southern Ocean and the key species that inhabit this last pristine region of our global ocean.

Every year, humpback whales travel between Antarctic feeding grounds and the warm waters of Tonga, where they breed and give birth. Their arrival is an important part of our culture and identity, but it is also an essential element of our country’s economy and one of its most valuable tourism industries.

Whale-watching creates income for boat operators, guides, hotels, restaurants and communities across our islands. Protecting whales is therefore both our environmental responsibility, and an economic priority. 

But Tonga can protect whales only while they are in our waters, which is a comparatively short time in their whole life span. Their survival also depends on what happens in the Southern Ocean, where they feed on Antarctic krill, small crustaceans that sustain the diets of whales and much of Antarctica’s marine life – from emperor penguins to fur seals. 

Every year industrial vessels plow the waters of the Southern Ocean, sucking up thousands of tons of krill to manufacture farmed-fish feed, pet food and dietary supplements.

A handful of companies from a handful of countries gather the profits from these non-essential products marketed for the developed world. 

But it is the ocean, and those of us oceanic nations who depend on it, that bear the tremendous risk.

We have already been warned. In July 2025, the Antarctic krill fishery reached its annual management threshold of 620,000 tonnes months before the end of the season (November), triggering an unprecedented early closure. And again this year, the threshold has been reached again well ahead of schedule.

The ability of industrial vessels to extract the full krill quotas faster than ever should not be treated as a conservation achievement. It simply demonstrates the growing capacity of the fleet and the increasing pressure being placed on the ecosystem.

The relevant question is not simply whether fishing vessels comply with an overall threshold. It is whether enough krill remains available to whales and other wildlife in the places and at the times when they need it. So they may make it across South America, Africa, the Pacific and back again in their glorious and ancient journeys.

Since 2024 the krill fishery has operated without spatial safeguards. This means vessels can concentrate their operations near critical feeding grounds around the Antarctic Peninsula. Ask any scientist: this is anything but precautionary management. Particularly when climate change is already transforming Antarctica and the sea ice is declining faster than ever.

Yet Tonga and most Pacific countries have no seat in the CCAMLR negotiations. We must sit outside and hope that decisions made there can ensure whales keep returning to our waters and Tongan families continue to benefit from the livelihoods the whale watching tourism supports.

The time has come for Antarctica to become a greater priority for Pacific diplomacy.

As Large Ocean States, we are responsible for vast marine areas and are deeply affected by changes across the global ocean. Our interests do not end at the boundaries of our exclusive economic zones.

Pacific leaders should call for an end to krill fishing in the Southern Ocean, and the establishment of long-delayed marine protected areas. 

Antarctic krill are being extracted for products that have alternatives. The whales, wildlife and communities that depend upon them do not.

Tonga may be far from the Antarctic negotiating table, but we are not far from the consequences of its decisions. Protecting the Southern Ocean means protecting our whales, our tourism economy and the livelihoods of our people.

Pacific nations have a legitimate stake in Antarctica’s future. It is time our voices were heard.

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About H.E. the Honorable Lord Fakafanua:

Lord Fakafanua is a distinguished Tongan statesman and a strong advocate for ocean stewardship and Pacific regional unity. As the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga, he plays a central role in shaping national policy and representing Tonga’s interests on the global stage.

Lord Fakafanua embarked early on his political career. At age 24 he became one of the youngest Members of Parliament in 2009. At age 27, Lord Fakafanua assumed the role of Speaker of Parliament as the youngest ever elected by parliament to that office in Tonga and, at the time, the youngest presiding Speaker in the world. Over the course of his political career, Lord Fakafanua has engaged with monumental changes in the Tongan Parliament, including presiding over major political reform, and passionately advocating for greater representation for women and youth in Parliament. During his term as Speaker, Lord Fakafanua entered the Tongan Parliament into the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) as the 164th member. The 5 Conference of the Pacific Islands Parliamentary Assembly (PIPA), elected Lord Fakafanua to be the inaugural Chair of the Board of the Pacific Islands Parliamentary Assembly. At age 40, he was elected by parliament to become the 20th Prime Minister of Tonga, besting the incumbent in a 16 to 10 vote.

In 2014 Lord Fakafanua took a break from politics to pursue further studies at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji and subsequently completed a Master of Arts in Diplomacy, Law and Business at the O.P. Jindal Global University, India. Lord Fakafanua 

has since resumed his role as the incumbent Speaker of Parliament after being re-elected in the 2017 and subsequently 2021 general elections. He was elected to serve from 2023 to 2024 by the Asia-Pacific Geopolitical Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union as the first Pacific Island representative to the Board of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians. In 2025 Lord Fakafanua was inducted as an Ocean Elder where he continues to advocate for the protection and health of the Pacific Ocean. He has spoken at the United Nations, the Pacific Islands Forum, and the Commonwealth, advocating for stronger protections for marine ecosystems and greater global action on climate change.

Lord Fakafanua has a passion for youth development, in the face of rising substance addiction, illicit drugs related issues and youth unemployment in Tonga. Beyond his political work in parliament, Lord Fakafanua is also the president of the Shooting Association of Tonga (SAT) and the national federation for Rugby League.

As a technophile he seeks the development of a knowledge-based economy to support and capitalize on Tonga’s young demography and low regulatory frameworks. He is a strong advocate for nature and especially humpback whales, circular economies, the Pacific Island Forum’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific, data driven policies and decarbonising Tonga’s energy systems.

Lord Fakafanua has dedicated his career to public service, with a deep commitment to development, governance, climate resilience, and sustainable ocean management and has since been a leading voice on issues affecting Tonga and the greater Pacific region.