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Tag: flag state

The types of states in a catch documentation scheme

Categories FeaturesPosted on 14 March 2018
The types of states in a catch documentation scheme
Standardised supply chain - CTEs and State control
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Republished from Francisco Blaha’s blog, 14 March 2018

by Francisco Blaha

 

I promised that I would slowly digest and post parts of our CDS publication to bring some of the key elements to the table; here is the 2nd post.

One of key issues we found when talking about CDS is a limited understanding of the “roles” of each type of state in the CDS picture in particular, but also in the MCS in general. Since country-specific mechanisms are often essential for verifying and corroborating submitted data, enhancing monitoring functions and identifying and sanctioning fraudulent transactions. (And is also a good proxy on why a “single country CDS” would hardly ever have a substantial impact on multi-state value chains)

The state types involved in fishing, landing, processing and trade of fisheries products along the supply chain are “fixed” and each type of state carries out functions that contribute to the success of the CDS:

Flag state. This is the state whose flag is flown by fishing vessels, whose activities it is obliged to authorize and to monitor under international law. In international fisheries targeting species under the management of an RFMO, flag states also have reporting obligations to the international body as to the activities and catches of their fleet(s). Oversight by the flag state covers harvesting, transhipment and landing operations, the latter typically regarded as the last transaction related to fishing. The flag state is crucial in a CDS in that it validates catch certificates for catches harvested during fishing trips deemed by the flag state to have been conducted legally.

Coastal state. This is the state in whose waters a fishing operation may be taking place, in which case the coastal state must provide the necessary oversight to ensure that foreign vessels entering its waters are authorized to operate, and report operations and catches to relevant coastal state authorities. Coastal states currently have no statutory role in existing unilateral and multilateral CDS.

Port state. This is the state in whose port(s) fish are landed. The port state has a legal obligation under the PSMA to ensure that only legal fish are landed by carrying out rigorous in-port inspections of vessels flying a flag other than that of the port state and voluntarily entering its ports to land fish. The port state is crucial in ensuring that catch to be landed from a CDS-managed fishery are covered by valid catch certificates at the time of landing.

Processing state. This is the state in which raw products are converted into semiprocessed products or end products. The processing state may be the same as the port state, but fisheries products for processing may enter the processing state by sea, air or land. Processing states are important in CDS systems in terms of ensuring that non-certified fishery products are not imported, processed or certified for export or re-export. The “laundering” of fisheries products into legally certified supply streams occurs mostly at this level.

End-market state. This is the territory in which final consumer products are placed on the market, acquired by customers and consumed, often after importation. In a CDS the action of the end-market state is limited to ensuring that non-certified products cannot gain access to its consumer markets – a crucial final element in guaranteeing the success of a CDS.

The illustration above shows a standardized supply chain with the segments covered or controlled by the various state types. It is clear that few operations or CTEs (Critical Tracking Events) along the supply chain are under the exclusive purview of a single state type and that a large number of operations fall under the purview of different state types along the supply chain. The flag state, for example, will (or at least should!) oversee transhipments and landings, but so will the port state when these do take place in a port, and sometimes the coastal state is involved in oversight of transhipments in its EEZ.

Yet is really important to understand, that a single country can act as a few or as all of the state types at once, and at different levels of involvement.

In the Tuna world, a country like PNG for example, is at once a important flag, coastal, port and processing state, and in a lesser level a market state. Countries like Nauru or Tukelau are only coastal states, Thailand is the ultimate example of a processing state, Taiwan and China (even if it brings some fish back to its ports) are examples of major flag states, finally the EU and the US, that dependes substantially on imports, are major End-Market States, even if they have their own fleet, ports and processors.

This multiplicity of roles is important, since from the seafood traded internationally; 61% originates in developing countries and 85% of it is destined for developed countries. The current internationally integrated seafood value chains show that for most products many different administrations may be involved from catch to consumer.

Author Francisco Blaha

Need to control longline fishing on the high seas

Categories @WCPFC14, News, NewsPosted on 7 December 2017
Need to control longline fishing on the high seas
Solomon Islands: The pacific's gold
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By Pita Ligaiula in Manila, Philippines

MANILA, 05 DECEMBER 2017 (PACNEWS) —-The Pacific has called for the control of longline fishing on the high seas at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) currently underway in Manila.

The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is the source of about 2.8 million metric tons of tuna valued at US$5.3 billion, representing 79 percent of the aggregate catch in the entire Pacific Ocean and 56 percent of the global tuna catch.

WCPFC is a regional fisheries-management organisation that governs fishing activities, particularly of tuna, in the high seas or waters that do not belong to any country.

Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director General, James Movick says although there has been an improvement in the data that has been collected from vessels operating in the High Seas there clearly is not sufficient or robust controls over the High Seas longline fleet activity.

“The other aspects of High seas that need to be considered carefully is the control of Longline fishing on the High Seas which is a flag-based measure (one that is based around rights of the nationality of the fishing vessel)at the present time. And although there has been an improvement in the data that has been collected from vessels operating in the High Seas there clearly is not sufficient or robust controls over the High Seas longline fleet activity.

“And it is important as the Longline fleet is the major source of bigeye (tuna) mortality,” Movick said

“Whereas on the purse seine side we’re able to have 100% observer coverage, much more verification of catches etc…Unfortunately at the present time we don’t have a similarly high degree of confidence in the data we’re receiving from High Seas activities targeting the big bigeye tuna and the longline fishery.

There needs to be better control over the Longline fishery in the High Seas,” Movick told regional journalists in a media briefing in Manila.

Although it has been difficult getting data off longline boats and putting independent fisheries observers on board, Movick said the task is possible to achieve.

“I think we can achieve it. We’re experimenting. We have trials underway and the commission itself is seeking to develop standards for e-monitoring and e-reporting and work quite well in other fisheries around the world,” Movick said.

“So we’re looking to see how we can adapt those for operating conditions in the Pacific so we should see a higher degree of monitoring capability for these boats. I don’t think it is an impossible task.

Parties to Nauru Agreement (PNA) CEO, Ludwig Kumoru said, with the way PNA is implementing the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) for the longline fleet, having reliable data will be achievable within 5-years.

“First of all we need to get it done within our (200-mile exclusive economic) zones, then and only then can we look to extend it to the High Seas. But again, when it comes to the High Seas we’ll going to need the whole grouping – but its easier to do it within zones. And that’s the importance of ‘zone-based management’ because we can make the decision and just carry on,” said Kumoru.

Movick said: “The point is, we’ve always taken the principle in the Pacific that this resource belongs primarily to us – the countries from whose EEZs the vast bulk of this fish is caught.

“And with all our management responsibilities, we should also be able to have a degree of management say in the High Seas as well.

“So as a matter of equity, right from the very beginning we’ve always said that countries of the Pacific, SIDS, should also be able to benefit from the entire fishery and participate in the entire fishery given their development aspirations, given their different geographical placement etc, relative to where the main fishing activity takes place. But that’s not been something that this commission has been able to address up until now.

“What we’re saying is this aspect of the commission does need to be addressed because this resource is one that is being taken care of by all the Pacific island countries who have worked strenuously over the last 30+ years since the establishment of the 3rd Law of the Sea (Conference), working collectively to ensure that this resource is the most robust and well managed tuna fishery in the world. It’s a burden that’s been placed on all of us so we need to recognise that, and give shape to everybody’s different aspirations, rights and everything to the resource,” said Movick.

The WCPFC’s annual meetings are aimed at protecting highly migratory fish stocks with rules known as conservation and management measures. …..PACNEWS

Author Pita Ligaiula

PNA to pursue vessel-day scheme for longliners

Categories NewsPosted on 27 November 2017
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Republished from Sea Source News, 27 November 2017

Leaders of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) said last week they will seek to move longline vessels fishing in its waters into a management format currently in place for tuna purse-seiners.

Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority Director Glen Joseph, who chairs the PNA, which is composed of eight Pacific Island nations that jointly run a zone-based fishery management area, said implementation of a longline vessel day scheme will increase oversight of the fishing industry operating in PNA waters.

“PNA’s management scheme – the VDS – has served us well. We see value in expanding it to longliners,” Joseph said in the PNA’s monthly newsletter. “We recognize it is a different fishery, but it has been left unmanaged for too long.”

The PNA’s VDS for purse-seiners sets a limit on the number of fishing days allowed in the region, requires an independent fisheries observer on board and the collection of detailed catch data, and includes an annual three-month moratorium on the use of fish-aggregating devices (FADs) and in-port transshipment for further monitoring.

Currently, longliners operating in PNA waters are not required to have full observer coverage and do not collect or report adequate data on catch tonnage, bycatch amounts, and transshipment, Joseph said.

“These are the reasons it is urgently needed for the longline industry, particularly on the high seas where there is almost no verification of catches by independent observers or other management systems,” he said.

Joseph said the PNA was beginning the process of seeking support from the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission to implement a VDS for the longliners. Joseph added that the PNA has heard interest from other island nations outside of the PNA who are interested in joining the PNA’s longline management scheme. Furthermore, he dismissed the possibility that the PNA would move to flag state fishing rights in the Western and Central Pacific.

“PNA members agree on the principle of zone-based management,” Joseph said. “Flag state rights are not appropriate or effective as a management tool in the western and central Pacific fishery. The VDS is effective in both conservation and economic development.”

Longliners in the Solomon Islands – copyright Francisco Blaha

Another reason the group is pushing for a longliner VDS is its economic benefit, PNA Chief Executive Officer Ludwig Kumoru said in the newsletter. Revenue to PNA countries has risen from USD 60 million (EUR 50.7 million) to nearly USD 500 million (EUR 422.7 million) in 2016 as a result of implementing the VDS, he said. Secondary economic benefits have included fishery training, the construction of new airports and air routes, wharfs, and fleet service facilities.

“Domestic development of the fishery is a catalyst for economic development,” Kumoru said.

Kumoru added that one of PNA’s primary goals “is to make sure our people are involved in the fishery, not spectators,” and that the group will pursue efforts to increase the capacity of the local fleet.

“If we have an opportunity to exploit our fishery, we’ll do it,” Kumoru said. “Right now, we license distant-water fishing nations, giving them opportunity to fish in our waters, because coastal states haven’t yet built the capacity to fish. There will come a time when the islands have the capacity to expand fishing in their own zones, and others must be prepared to give way.”

The PNA’s strategy of seeking to grow the domestic commercial tuna fishery may create tensions between the current overseas fleets fishing in PNA waters, “but it’s a matter of survival for the islands,” Joseph said.

“From the increasing revenue, hospitals are being built, roads are being paved, government operations are being funded,” he said. “It’s not about cutting out the distant-water fishing nations. It’s about developing the capacity of our islands to fish our own waters and process the catch.”

Author Cliff White Executive Editor SeaSource News

PNA countries oppose ‘flag state’ push

Categories NewsPosted on 27 November 2017
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Republished from Radio New Zealand, 27 November 2017

The countries that make up the Parties to the Nauru Agreement say they have no interest in changing how they manage the tuna fishery in the western and central Pacific.

 Tuna on the deck of a Pacific fishing vessel.
Tuna on the deck of a Pacific fishing vessel. Photo: RNZI/Giff Johnson

The current system – known as the Vessel Day Scheme – divvies out fishing days between the countries, which are then sold to fishing vessels and nations to fish in their exclusive economic zones.

But the PNA’s chief executive, Ludwig Kumoru, said distant fishing nations had been pushing for so-called “flag-state” rights, but these would not be effective for either conservation nor island economies.

Mr Kumoru said the current scheme was effective in both conserving fish stocks and raising revenue for the PNA states, and there was no desire for change.

Author Radio New Zealand

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