Pacific losing out?

Fishy deals - is the Pacific losing out?

The Central Western Pacific, the scene of a bitter air and sea battle only 50 years ago, is shaping up as a potential battleground of a different kind: Economic benefits.

On one side of the pendulum are the Distant Water Fishing nations (DWFNs), harvesting the region’s fisheries resources, while on the other are the Pacific Island countries who have laid claims as the true resource owners of the region’s lucrative fisheries, including bluefm and bigeye tuna.

Despite the fact that their combined regional Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) account for about 30 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, concerns have surfaced that they are not getting enough for their fish. DWFNs, such as Korea, Taiwan and Japan, are per mitted to fish in the region based on a

licensing system mostly through bilateral

arrangements.

The United States of America is the only DWFN with a multilateral fishing arrangement with member countries of the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) based in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

With natural resources, such as

forestry, being depleted at an alarming

rate, there’s been mounting concern that the region’s fisheries could end up the same way before too long if nothing is done soon.

Concern has been raised by FFA’s 16 member countries that economic returns on foreign fishing activities in the Pacific are insufficient.

These concerns, especially those raised by the leaders of the South Pacific Forum in recent years on unsustainable harvest ing of the region’s fish stocks, were taken up by the recent meeting of the Forum Fisheries Council (FFC), the governing body of the FFA, held in Vava’u, northern Tonga.

There, the FFC approved a strategy aimed at maintaining the sustainable har vest of the region’s fisheries resources.

And, in recognition of the high mobility of the region’s tuna stocks, the week-long meeting discussed convening later this year a second multilateral conference on the conservation of tuna stocks in the Central Western Pacific.

A recommendation on this will be sub mitted for approval by the 27th Sumrmt of the South Pacific Forum in Majuro, Marshall Islands, from September 3 to 5, this year.

According to one outcome of the May FFC meeting, FFA member countries “remain keen to ensure that an increased proportion of the benefits of the tuna catch are retained in local economies in the

region”.

Efforts are continuing to domesticate the tuna industry by encouraging DWFNs to invest in shore-based infrastructure, the employment of local crew and basing their fleets in designated ports of FFA member countries.

This ensures that economic benefits derived from fisheries are enjoyed by the

people of the region.

It is difficult to get accurate figures on actual fish catches within and adjacent to the jurisdictions of Pacific Island coun tries, let alone their true value.

It is equally true that statistical data can be misleading, if not put in their true

perspective.

But I think the Pacific Islands have a legitimate case in terms of the actual returns they get for their fisheries. Based in Honiara, Solomon Islands, the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) has worked tire lessly to ensure that foreign fishing boats report their catches as accurately as possi ble.

FFA’s persistence has paid off with improved figures on catches every year.

Further improvements are on the way.

To give you some idea of how much fish is taken out from our sea every year, consider this: In 1995, tuna valued at more than SUSI. 7 billion was caught in the waters within and adjacent to the

Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of FFA member countries - an enormous amount of money. But the actual return to the region from this was only about SUS7O million. In the same period, the perse seine fishing fleet’s catch in the Pacific was estimated at 780,000 metric tonnes, valued at an additional SUS7BO million.

Longline fisheries catches accounted for a further SUSBSO million in 1995.

Alleged non-reporting and under-report

ing have been blamed for tens of millions of dollars more lost to the region.

With the help of technology and a co

operative approach by members, non

reporting by foreign fishing vessels will

soon be designated to the trash bin.

Measures are afoot to strengthen reporting of vessel positions through the use of a satellite-based Vessel Monitoring System (VMS).

Funded by Australia after the European Union could not proceed with its promised funding for the project, the VMS is a highly sophisicated system.

Trial of the VMS is expected to com mence next August when activities of licensed foreign fishing vessels will be under the spotlight 24 hours a day.

Through its ‘all-seeing eye’, the satel lite-based system, being designed in Australia, will provide automated, inde pendent and accurate vessel-reporting positions which are available on demand.

According to FFA, the VMS will have the scope to monitor commercial tuna ves sels on its Regional Register, and local tuna vessels if, and when, required by an FFA member.

Future enhancements to the base-line will enable the system to provide critical information on other fisheries resources as well as the transfer of fisheries manage ment information on a close-to-real-time basis.

“This is in contrast to the present situ ation, where fish catch report forms are received long after a fishing operation has

The Forum

Alfred

Sasako

been completed - in some cases, up to nine months after,” the FFA said.

“The VMS will support enhance

monitoring by assisting with the detec

tion of illegal fishing and/or potential

fishing violations, and providing near real-time and historical analysis,” it said. Operators of foreign vessels licensed to fish in the region will be

required to install FFA-approved

Automatic Location Communication (ALC) devices at their own cost to enable a two-way communication sys tem with FFA headquarters and for emergency uses.

Advantages of the VMS are many. It is cost-effective, supports the region’s

compliance and monitoring programme

and enables effective air-sea surveil lance patrols to be co-ordinated with

fishing patterns.

In emergencies, it reduces search time.

The VMS will allow targeting of selected vessels by patrol boats and surveillance flights in the event of a fishing violation, the FFA said.

Although resistance to the regional VMS is expected from some quarters, operators of commercial tuna fleets operating in the Central Western Pacific have been kept fully informed about developments.

This is done through regular exchange of information during VMS Technical Consultations, such as the first one which took place in 1991.

Australia’s two-year funding for the project will include a comprehensive training package. Other costs, includ ing communications, will require FFA members to provide cost-recovery mechanisms.

These are aimed at reducing the net overall costs on FFA members.

Comprehensive as it is, the VMS pro ject should not be regarded as a “cure all” for compliance problems being

experienced nationally and regionally in

the Central Western Pacific, the FFA has warned.

It is part and parcel of on-going innovative approaches to tackle the compliance problems, it said.

FFA’s hope is that its members’ active participation in the project in tracking down movements of DWFNs fishing vessels in their EEZs will signif icantly enhance existing national and regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) measures. ■