BY JOHN HOUANIHAU

A study undertaken to quantify Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Pacific tuna fisheries highlighted that licensed vessels continue to dominate IUU fishing.

Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director of Fisheries Operations Division Mr Allan Rahari said the study was undertaken by FFA in 2016 and further updated in 2021.

“The study did highlight one key area of significance to the region, and that is IUU estimates continue to be dominated by authorized or licensed vessels engaged in unreported fishing,’’ said Rahari.

“So, this is a key finding and has shaped some of the strategies to address IUU fishing. The focus is on unreported fishing,’’ he said.

Speaking during a side event at the Honiara summit, Rahari said that unlicensed fishing remains an issue.

“So mainly incursions of small-scale Southeast vessels into the EZs adjacent to Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia, Philippines, and so forth,’’ he said.

He said that estimates of illegal transshipment have declined, but monitoring and control are works in progress to strengthen the validation of transshipment volumes.

He said that one of the key messages from this study is the need for a stronger Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) arrangement in FFA members’ EZs to be mirrored on the high seas.

“There is a need to ensure that the rules that are applied in EZs are applied on the high seas so that the stuff that’s been managed, the rules apply consistently across both the EZs and the high seas. A key IUU risk for the Pacific is unreported fishing,’’ he said.

He said that while other IUU risks are equally important, the focus of existing strategies and key activities is to address unreported fishing.

He said that activities implemented to address this risk within the region includes implementing electronic reporting and electronic monitoring tools, strengthening analytical capacity at national and regional level, undertaking quality boarding inspections both at sea and in port, strengthening cuts reporting requirements under national laws, and strengthening catch monitoring during transshipment at sea and landing.

“These are some of the activities currently being undertaken in the region to address the issue of unreported fishing,’’ he said.

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