From Vanuatu to Australia – the FFA hand over

Vanuatu has handed over

the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Chairmanship of the Forum Fisheries Committee (FFC) to the new FFC Chairman, Australia.

The hand over took place at the opening session of the 102nd Forum Fisheries Committee (FFC) early in May attended by Vanuatu’s Fisheries Director Kalo Pakoa, on behalf of the Minister for Fisheries, Matai Seremaiah, reports the FFA’s Media Officer, Lisa Williams, in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

Thanking FFA for the 12-month journey that has seen Vanuatu at the helm of Pacific Fisheries meetings ranging from special ministerial sessions, the US Treaty, and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) action, Pakoa noted the ongoing challenges facing sustainable fisheries management for Pacific nations.

“Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a continuing threat to sustainability of regional fisheries and while we have made progress in some areas of illegal fishing there is more yet to be done.

“The work of PNA members and the management regime of the vessels day scheme continue to shine as an innovative fisheries management approach in the region and which other FFA members are observing with interest,” Pakoa says.

“Putting longline fisheries under effective control is another challenge and while the Tokelau arrangement is an important step for controlling activities in the south region, the negotiation of a balanced catch management arrangement is still far from over and I encourage all of us to be forward-looking and speed up this negotiation so that we can move to implementation sooner.”

As for the trending issues before his successor, Pakoa noted the influx of illegal Vietnamese blue boats “presents new challenges for FFA and its members...it brings to us the reality and connectedness of coastal and offshore fisheries”.