Policy program details
Compliance Strenthening is concerned with the monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement actions necessary to ensure compliance with the national and regional legal frameworks that will be the focus of the legal reform activities of the project.
The provisions on compliance in the UN Fish Stocks Agreement, mirrored and extended in the WCPF Convention are, perhaps, the major area of innovation in those instruments. These provisions spring from the difficulties faced by members of international fisheries organisations such as NAFO, where NAFO member states were powerless to take action to ensure that measures adopted by the organisation were being applied by flag states in the high seas. The compliance package in the WCPF Convention establishes detailed regulation over fishing in the high seas, including: authorisation, boarding and inspection; vessel monitoring and control of transhipment; a vessel register, with an operational role for the Commission in these areas; and the establishment of a region-wide observer program. These provisions were among the most contentious in the negotiation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention and progress in this area has also been slow in the WCPF Preparatory Conference. Broadly, the interests of Pacific SIDS lie in the fullest possible application of the compliance provisions of the WCPF Convention, but there are challenges in achieving this within the Commission given the effects of these provisions and the global precedents that applications in the WCPF Commission will set.
Under the pilot activities of the South Pacific SAP Project, Pacific SIDS developed a draft MCS scheme for the Commission. The project will support Pacific SIDS as they work on securing adoption of the measures and programmes in the draft Scheme through the Commission’s Technical and Compliance Committee. This will require the formulation and presentation of detailed proposals for the Commission in the areas of high seas fishing authorisation, Commission vessel register, marking of vessels and gear, recording and reporting, VMS, at-sea inspection, port inspection, observers, transhipment controls, reporting and response to infringements, sanctions and deterring non-Contracting Party IUU vessels. For this work, the project will provide expert advice and funding for a Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Working Group. In addition to providing a forum for developing proposals for the Commission’s compliance programmes in the areas listed above, the MCS Working Group will also serve as a forum for strengthening coordination of MCS arrangements between Pacific SIDS and with cooperating partners and for exchange of information on common MCS issues, including MCS costs and possible new technologies for MCS.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Advanced Evidence Training Course Report.pdf | 550.56 KB |
Institutional Reform will provide support to countries to reform and realign their fisheries administrations and arrangements for inter-departmental liaison relating to oceanic fisheries and to establish or strengthen consultative processes with stakeholders. Priorities identified by the national missions for this sub-component included institutional restructuring and strengthening reviews, typically responding to new policy directions set out in national management plans. The project document background described the development of successful models for institutional change, including the kind of self-financing authority adopted in the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Papua New Guinea.
Institutional Reform will also provide support for the establishment or strengthening of cooperation between national non-governmental stakeholders so that they can participate more effectively in oceanic fisheries management affairs. This is specifically aimed at providing support to the establishment and strengthening of associations of fishers, both industrial and small scale in ways that will enable them to have a more effective voice on issues that affect them, especially those related to the Convention, responding to one of the major concerns raised during the national missions.
The intended outcome of Institutional Reform activities of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management Project is expected to help public sector fisheries administrations change through reformation, realignment and to become strengthened by enhancing the capacities of national non-governmental organisations to participate in oceanic fisheries management.
Project funds to date have been directed on the basis of identified in-country priorities, as per the original endorsed project document, updated in-country priorities identified after recent in-country visits by the Project Coordinator, integration with any activities identified by donor agencies (eg., AusAID, NZAID), and any other means by which the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) members identify such institutional reform priorities with the FFA.
The Government of Nauru requested an Institutional Strenthening Scoping Study as a matter as a matter of priority and this study was undertaken in 2007. In accordance with the request from Nauru the IS Scoping work covered the whole of the NFMRA
Nauru Fisheries and Marine Resources Authority (NFMRA) Institutional Strengthening Scoping Study Report
Mr. Robert Ferraris who has extensive experience in the area of institutional strengthening was the FFA project leader consultant led this exercise, with Darren Cameron (FFA Fisheries Management Adviser) who managed the work. An AusAID representative Mr. Gordon Anderson was an important IS scoping team member during the initial in-country visit to Nauru and with the preparation of draft scoping study document in cooperation with the NFMRA.
The Nauru Institutional Strengthening (IS) Scoping Study Draft Report comprising the draft Activity Feasibility Study and Design Document was presented to the Nauru Fisheries and Marine Resources Authority (NFMRA) in April 2007. At this time FFA consultant, Mr Garry Preston of Gillette, Preston and Associates visited NFMRA to conduct an on-ground assessment of the draft Activity Feasibility Study and Design Document. On the request of the Nauru Fisheries Minister, Mr. Roland Kun, Garry presented the outline of the Activity Feasibility Study and Design Document to the President and Cabinet (comprising 5 Ministers). The proposal and its recommendations for institutional strengthening in Nauru was received in a positive light by the Nauruan government and Minister Kun advised FFA officers that he was keen to seek donor support for the implementation of the proposed project.
AusAID have now agreed to fund implementation of a large Institutional Strengthening Project on the basis of the OFM funded (IS) Scoping Study with the recruitment of a Fisheries Management Institutional Strengthening Specialist to be based in Nauru, being initiated in May 2008.
The Government of Kiribati in late 2007 requested an Institutional Strengthening Scoping Study for the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources and Development. In-country visits to conduct this work occurred in November 2007 and April 2008. This work will be a topic in a future edition of this newsletter.
For further information please contact:
Darren Cameron
Fisheries Management Advisor/FFA/ phone: (677) 21124
Email: darren.cameron@ffa.int
This page contains a report on experiences and lessons learned from fisheries institutional reform (IR) and institutional strengthening (IS) activities in the Pacific. Critical input into this report came from discussions at a workshop conducted at the FFA Headquarters in Honiara on 15-16 May 2007.
This workshop was co-funded by FFA Trust Funds for National Institutional Strengthening Review and the OFM Project.
Discussions at this workshop, together with information garnered from informal discussions with of member country representatives at the annual Forum Fisheries Committee meeting in 2007 and other reviewed literature has led to this valuable review of the factors necessary for sustainable institutional reform and strengthening. Information on the pros and cons of different Statutory Authority and Departmental fishery governance models is likely to be of considerable interest to persons with fisheries management responsibilities at all levels.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| GEF OFMP IR-IS Review Experiences and Lessons Learned.pdf | 355.04 KB |
At the national level, the Legal Reform sub-component will assist Pacific SIDS to undertake legal reforms associated with the implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention and other relevant international legal and policy instruments. The key new provisions, which are specifically required for implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention, include the following:
More broadly, the Sub-Component will assist Pacific SIDS in wider legal reforms, including:
In-country training will also be provided, with the legal implications of the Convention generally and the implications of the new laws for prosecutors identified as priority subjects.
At the regional level, the Sub-Component will provide legal advice to Pacific SIDS on the legal issues involved in the development of the Commission’s programs, especially the compliance programme and its approach towards conservation measures. Key legal issues to be addressed in the early stages of the Commission’s work include:
Regional legal workshops and consultations are particularly important to national legal personnel who are often working on their own on international fisheries legal issues within very small legal administrations.
Available DocumentsAt the national level, the OFM Project will assist Pacific SIDS to undertake legal reforms associated with the implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention and other relevant international legal and policy instruments. A number of key new provisions will be specifically required for implementation of the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the WCPF Convention but more broadly the legal reforms will assist Pacific SIDS by:
The attached review provides a basis for setting up a checklist and a template that can be used for gauging the best practices when reviewing fisheries legislation. Some provisions are dealt with in more detail than others, with greater attention being devoted to those aspects of a fisheries law which will need revision in order to bring the law into line with modern conservation and management approaches, as well as looking at novel aspects designed to give effect to UNFSA and WCPFC.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Model Legislation Review.pdf | 285.87 KB |
| Report of the Legal Consultations 2005 | 147.69 KB |
Policy Reform is the central and most challenging element of the Project. It is the main area of support in the Project for Pacific SIDS as they work to establish the new Commission and it seeks to play a major role in effecting deep-seated changes in national policies in the direction of sustainable and responsible fisheries. On the surface, the resources committed to these outcomes are modest, but this area of the project is closely integrated with substantial baseline and incremental FFA programmes in economics and fisheries management and by the work of other agencies, particularly FAO. In large, Polict reform seeks to work by levering powerful ideas centered on sustainability into well-established regional fisheries policy dialogue structures - from national grass roots level consultation through regional FFA meetings, workshops and consultations, to the annual meetings of Pacific Leaders. Its key features are the provision of high calibre technical advice to Pacific SIDS on national and regional management issues, including analysis of economic factors contributing to over-exploitation and of the principles of allocation of access to resources; the preparation, implementation and review of national plans and strategies for oceanic fisheries management; supported by a range of training and capacity building.
Pacific SIDS will be assisted to develop and put forward proposals for the development of the Commission. This will involve the establishment of the Commission itself and its Secretariat, including its staffing, budget and work programme and in the consideration and adoption of conservation and management measures by the Commission. Annual OFM capacity building workshops will be held prior to the annual Commission meetings to strengthen Pacific SIDS capacities to participate in the Commission and to implement the Convention, with planned support from the New Zealand Agency for International Development.
Policy reform will provide analyses of the policy implications of the results of ecosystem analysis, including policies for the regulation of pelagic fishing around seamounts. This will support proposals for the adoption of ecosystem-based measures by the Commission at the regional level and by Pacific SIDS in their national waters. Seamount-related policy studies, including legal and compliance aspects will be undertaken by IUCN.
Policy Reform will also support the call by Pacific Islands Leaders at their 2004 Forum meeting for greater Ministerial involvement in regional fisheries governance by co-financing appropriate regional and sub-regional Ministerial meetings. It will also offer a course on the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, developed in cooperation between Train Sea Coast and the University of the South Pacific.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Seabird Bycatch longline fisheries report Sept_06.pdf | 324.04 KB |
| Addressing Shark Finning in FFA Member Countries: Issues and Consideration.pdf | 402.91 KB |
Application of the Ecosystem-Based Approach to Fisheries Management in Tuna Fisheries at the Western-Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO)
Samasoni Sauni, Moses Amos
Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), Solomon Islands
Correspondence: samasoni.sauni@ffa.int; moses.amos@ffa.int
Abstract
The issues related to tuna fisheries in the Western-Central Pacific continue to challenge decision-making among various stakeholders in the tuna industry. The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) has adopted the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management (EAFM) to manage tuna fisheries among its 17 member countries and territory. In 2005 the Agency started this work and includes series of meetings within its Members aiming to incorporate ecosystem related issues National Tuna Management Plans. Tuna fisheries contribute directly to small and poor economies of FFA members and the EAFM approach will help members meet their obligations towards ensuring sustainable fishing and fisheries in the WCPO. The paper explains the approach in the context of Pacific Island countries’ situations and further presents insights into its intended outcome.
Keywords: ecosystem-based approach, fisheries management, sustainable fishing and fisheries
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Application of the Ecosystem-Based Approach to Fisheries Management in Tuna Fisheries at the Western-Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) | 197.82 KB |
School of Marine Studies Facilities, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji
9th - 20th July 2007.
The International Ocean Institute-Pacific Islands and the School of Marine Studies at the University of the South Pacific invite nominations for people to participate in the next Train Sea Coast (TSC) course. The course on Responsible Fisheries in the Pacific Islands Region: implementation of Post-UNCED International Instruments will be offered at the School of Marine Studies Facilities from 9 - 20 July 2007.
The overall goal of the TSC is capacity building at the local level. Thus, the course emphasizes
The TSC methodology ensures that the highest pedagogical and technical standards are attained and arrangements are established for cooperation among the training centres so that training courses, experience and personnel may be shared for the benefit of all the members of the network. All TSC courses can be shared by TSC members who may adapt and deliver the courses as many times as needed.
Please see attachment for more information regarding this course.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| TCS-Responsible Fisheries-2007-announcement-Final.pdf | 743.47 KB |
The FFA Secretariat lead a delegation that participated as observers in the recent Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) Ad Hoc Meetings held at La Jolla, California (USA) from the 5-10 February 2007. The FFA delegation to this meeting included two FFA staff, Mr. Samasoni Sauni, a Fisheries Management Advisor Officer and Mr. Darren Cameron, Fisheries Management Advisor, and two representatives from the FFA member countries, Mr. Bernard Thoulag, Executive Director for the Federated States of Micronesia National Oceanic Resources Management Authority; and Ms Tooti Tekinaiti the acting Director for the Kiribati Fisheries Department. Both country representatives are Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management Project focal points of contact for their respective countries.
The IATTC members spend the week in long discussions in three consecutive sessions on Conservation and Management Measures, Finance and By-catch. The outcome of the meetings included a series of recommendations and statements that are expected to form the basis for further discussion and endorsement at the IATTC annual meeting to be held in June 2007.
The exposure to the way in which the IATTC conducts meetings by way of debate and discussion on related issues common to the WCPFC was considered of great benefit to the FFA delegation that attended the ad hoc IATTC meeting. The FFA Secretariat has traditionally supported the attendance of member country representatives at the meetings of other regional fisheries management organizations in an effort to build capacity of its membership for their participation in regional management events in the western and central Pacific.
The IATTC meeting did not reach a general consensus on possible management measures that would address priority issues on excessive catch of juveniles and adult stocks of bigeye and yellowfin. Nonetheless, the discussion at the meeting evolved to take into account possible complimenting measures or a ‘tool kit' of measures such as spatial and temporal closures, global total allowable catches, capacity limits and effort controls, as well as restrictive FAD fishing.
On financial matters, the IATTC meeting spent a great deal of time debating the funding formula used in their proposed 2007 budget, particularly in regard to variables used in the formula. There was clear separation in the debate, between the Latin American countries plus USA and Vanuatu in opposition to Japan, Spain, Taiwan and Korea.
The IATTC By-catch Working Group was not able to agree on issues of discussion relating to by-catch. Eventually the group stressed the need for more research findings to further guide management decisions in future Commission meetings.
The participation of member country representatives and that of Mr. Cameron at the IATTC meeting are supported by the Pacific Islands Oceanic Fisheries Management Project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).