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The Pacific Island region consists of fourteen independent countries and eight territories located in the western and central Pacific Ocean. In this area there are about 200 high islands and some 2 500 low islands and atolls. The main categories of marine fishing in the area are: offshore fishing. This is undertaken mainly by large, industrial-scale fishing vessels. Approximately 1 100 of these vessels operate in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Pacific Island countries, mainly using purse-seine and longline gear to catch tuna.|coastal fishing. This can be divided into three categories: (1) small-scale commercial fisheries (also referred to as “artisanal”), which can be further subdivided into those supplying domestic markets, and those producing export commodities; (2) subsistence fisheries, which support rural economies and are extremely important to the region’s nutrition and food security; and (3) industrial-scale shrimp fisheries, which in the region occur only in Papua New Guinea