Fisheries Budget to Improve Electronic Monitoring System
Monitoring of fishing activities at sea, has been made easier with the introduction of the Electronic Monitoring System (EMS).
In 2015, Fiji, via the Ministry of Fisheries in collaboration with United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Fiji Fishing Industry Association (FFIA), along with the support from both the Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), engaged in a pilot project to implement the Electronic Monitoring Systems (EMS) programme. This project was funded by the Global Environmental Fund (GEF) and facilitated via the FAO under the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction – Tuna Project (ABNJ-TP) with two countries chosen to implement the project, namely Fiji for the use of the EMS on its national long line fleet and Ghana for the Purse Seiner fleet.
According to Director Fisheries, Mere Lakeba, Fiji was chosen as one of the trial sites seeing that, tuna is very important for the livelihoods of a lot of people related to the fisheries sector.
“In Fiji, the industry had a keen interest in trialling this tool to improve its fishing operations and document best practices in order to secure and strengthen market access,” said Ms Lakeba.
“The fact that Fiji was chosen from other countries around the world along with Ghana, back in 2015 after a vigorous assessment process to spearhead the EMS pilot project, speaks volumes of the great work carried out by the dedicated EMS Project team.” Learnings and outcomes in the three year pilot project period was commended and has enabled other regions to also set up their systems.
Now, with it’s inclusion into the 2020/2021 budget for the Ministry of Fisheries, with an allocation of $600,000.00, the continuation of the EMS Project certainly sets the standard towards sustainable development best practices and more so in combatting Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing in and around Fiji’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
COVID-19 has placed a lot of restrictions on the placement of observers on fishing vessels. The EMS Project allows Fiji to conduct its mandatory scientific checks remotely while vessels are operational because there are no observers on board.
EMS allows for the option of vessel operators to still go out fishing. Their activities are monitored electronically and video footages assist vessel owners and government in gauging compliance levels out at sea. This innovative approach to resource monitoring contributes to sustainable resource use and ultimately food security and livelihoods for our people.
The EMS camera systems comprise of three cameras that capture 24/7 fishing activities. It was installed on board the 50 domestic long line fleet vessels which were trialled here in Fiji.
In Fiji, the industry had a keen interest in trialling this tool to improve its fishing operations and document best practices in order to secure and strengthen market access. Mere Lakeba Director Fisheries
EMS has been deemed as an effective tool to complement existing our National Observer Programme and guide harvest strategies and fishing quotas through improved data collection.
At present, with the EMS the ministry is able to document composition of catch, by-catch, discards, and other related benefits include appropriate fishing technology use at sea.
As compliance efforts improve, national fisheries administrations are expected to reduce occurrence of IUU fishing in Fiji waters and secure sustainable fish stocks for present and future generations. With the combination of EMS and the Fiji observer program, the monitoring capacity of the Fiji national long line fleet will increase ensuring compliance at the highest levels on vessels that fish both in-zone (within the Exclusive Economic Zone) and in the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ).
The Ministry of Fisheries is also working with the Secretariat for the Pacific Community in order to ensure that the maximum coverage is maintained in Fiji’s waters.
Through this project, Fiji hopes to continue its relations with all industry stakeholders in noting the values of the system, not only as a compliance tool but more so in that the tool is ensuring traceability from hook to fork.
Also that market standards for fishing and fish handling processes are maintained whilst the vessel is out at sea.