A young Palauan is taking part in the Pacifical internship program. Pacifical is a global tuna marketing company established by the tuna rich Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) countries.
Nineteen-year-old Olkeriil Eoghan Ngirudelsang won against other youth in the Pacific in August to land an internship in the Pacifical headquarters in Netherlands.
This is the first time that a Palauan has been selected as an intern – previously several young Micronesian interns have received valuable work experience and lessons from Pacifical.
With only a week left in his internship, Ngiruldelsang said his stint included working with the Pacifical team in collecting quantitative and qualitative data from store checks, internal and external market research, performing market analysis and research on the European and global market data for MSC certified tuna and working together with the Pacifical team on communication strategies for selected target markets.
Ngiruldelsang, a Liberal Arts student at the Palau Community College (PCC) said the call for applications piqued his interest. He has no background in fisheries but has been fascinated by the experience and can now see potential for a future career in fisheries.
“I learnt a little bit about marketing here and there, I’ve learnt a lot from the industry and I have learnt about Pacifical,” said Ngiruldelsang.
“I’ve learned a lot about the tuna industry and the PNA countries, FADs and about MSC and the tuna product from the PNA countries.”
He said his selection was a breeze; he showed his enthusiasm and willingness to be part of the internship program, which got him the opportunity to join the Pacifical team.
Ngiruldelsang said when he returns to Palau, he plans to spread awareness about PNA and Pacifical.
“A lot of people are not aware of the world of fisheries in the Pacific and not a lot of Paluanas have heard of PNA. They don’t know that Palau is part of PNA and that there is marketing company called Pacifical that markets tuna to the world.”
Ngiruldelsang said he is in the planning stages of producing a video on his experience at Pacifical and what he has learned about fisheries.
Prior to flying to the Netherlands for the internship, Ngiruldelsang hosted a weekly show on TMC, a local news channel in Palau.
Ngiruldelsang also handled the Pacifical Insider blog whilst working with the company.
Pacifical is the global marketing company that promotes the PNA region and actively trades their MSC-certified sustainably caught skipjack and yellowfin tuna to consumers around the world. Pacifical MSC-certified skipjack and yellowfin tuna from PNA waters is available in 23 different countries around the world and all products carry the Pacifical logo.