Tag: surveillance

New Japan Patrol Boat boosts Palau fight against IUU

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Republished from Pacific Note, 14 February 2018

The additional patrol boat to Palau from Nippon and Sasakawa Foundation is being hailed as a boost in the fight against illegal fishing in the island-nation.

The new patrol boat, PSS Kedam also amplifies Palau’s national marine sanctuary law- a signature policy of the government that will ban commercial fishing in its 193,000 square miles of its exclusive economic zone by 2020.

The PSS Kedam is named after the Great Frigate Bird of Palau, a sea bird that is the largest bird found in Palau.

“Today is a proud day for Palau, a proud day for law enforcement and the grand responsibility of safeguarding our constitutional borders surrounded by vast oceans. Today is a proud day, for the fruits of friendship and partnership between public sector and the private sector,” Palau President Tommy Remenegsu Jr. said during the handover ceremony in Palau on Feb. 13.

The Nippon Foundation at a cost of over $30 million funds the new patrol boat Kedam .

The 40-meter patrol boat is also part of the grant assistance from the Nippon Foundation and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation on the 10-year $70 million assistance provided by the two foundations referred to as the Support to Enhance Coast Guard Capabilities and Promote Eco-conscious Tourism in Palau.

The Nippon Foundation also provided new berth and the administration building, while the Sasakawa Peace Foundation provided capacity training and salary for the crew for 10 years.

A signed memorandum of understanding in 2016 with Palau government stated that the Nippon Foundation will provide financial support to cover fuel and maintenance cost for the vessel until the end of Japanese fiscal year 2027, and for the boat until the end of Japanese fiscal year 2026.

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation will fund employment of crews to operate the medium-sized patrol vessel, including the training of those crews, which will be conducted by the Japanese partner organizations until the end of Japanese fiscal year 2027. Before PSS Kedam,

Palau only has one patrol boat- PSS H.I Remeliik, which is 31.5-meter (104ft). Remeliik is Palau’s first patrol board donated by the Australian government. PSS Remeliik is due to be replaced by Australia by 2020.

Remenegsau said Kedam and Remeliik will help patrol its ocean and assist tackling the challenge of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

“We are one percent land, and 99 percent ocean. And that means, we are indeed a large ocean state, and ocean is everything to us. It is our food security, it is our economic security, it is our cultural and social security, for it is our way of life.”

“Unfortunately, we are visited by problems not of our own making, but of signs and mankind, one of them, being the challenging part of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. Today’s ceremony, activities and purpose will go a long way to assist Palau in tackling this important challenge,” he added. Palau has caught in their waters poachers from Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Vice President and Minister of Justice Raynold Oilouch said the Nippon Foundation included in their donation  three smaller patrol boats; a high speed inflatable boat, a pick-up truck and satellite communication facilities.

“Palau now has one of the most state of the art surveillance and enforcement operations in the entire region, coupled with the latest technology and satellite surveillance and aircraft reconnaissance, Palau will now be able to effectively and efficiently monitor and enforce our exclusive economic zone against illegal fishing, drug and human trafficking, and increase our abilities for search and rescue for missing vessels and people,” Oilouch stated during the hand over ceremony.

Mitsuyuki Unno Executive Director of Nippon Foundation sin his remarks said the partnership with Palau is due to   a shared common concern to  protect the world’s oceans.

“For years, the Nippon Foundation has been working to make the world’s ocean sustainable. however, to address the diverse challenges that confront our oceans, there needs to be a new global ocean regime that transcends country borders, institutions, and specializations. and to pass on a bountiful ocean to future generations, we need to work together to develop a global vision for the next millennium,” Unno said.

Commencement of aerial surveillance – Pacific Maritime Security Program

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Pacific Maritime Security Program - copyright Department of Defence

Republished from Australian Department of Defence, 28 January 2018

Media release from Senator the Hon Marise Payne

 

A civilian aerial surveillance service has begun across the Central and Western Pacific region as part of the Australian Government’s $2 billion Pacific Maritime Security Program.

When fully implemented, the Pacific Maritime Surveillance Program Aerial Surveillance will provide up to 1,400 hours of aerial surveillance each year across the Central and Western Pacific through two dedicated long-range aircraft based in the region. The surveillance, in conjunction with the Pacific Patrol Boat program will provide targeted maritime patrolling and enhance the ability of Pacific Island Countries to defend against regional maritime security threats such as illegal fishing and transnational crime.

Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne said the protection of oceans and regional resources is vital for all Pacific Island Forum countries and Australia.

“The Pacific Maritime Security Program is an important investment in regional security. Australia is committed to further strengthening the capabilities of Pacific Island countries so we can work together in support of our shared interests,” Minister Payne said.

“I reiterated this commitment with my Pacific counterparts on my visits to Papua New Guinea and Fiji and at the South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Auckland last year. I’m very pleased to see the aerial surveillance aspect of the Program get underway,” she said.

The introduction of this new capability, and the Government’s commitment to providing this support for the next 30 years, is fundamentally changing the way the Pacific region identifies and responds to maritime security threats. For the first time, Pacific countries will have access to surveillance information 365 days per year to support intelligence-targeted patrolling and protection of their resources.

The $10 million aerial surveillance service is fully funded by the Department of Defence. Aircraft tasking will be coordinated by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA). The inaugural flight occurred out of Micronesia in December 2017.

As the only regional surveillance centre in the Pacific, the FFA is responsible for the day-to-day coordination of the platform and facilitating communication with regional maritime law enforcement agencies.

Defence has engaged Technology Service Corporation (TSC) to provide the aerial surveillance service. TSC  has previously provided aerial surveillance support to the Pacific region through the FFA in its largest annual surveillance operation.

The Pacific Maritime Security Program is the centrepiece of Australia’s defence engagement in the Pacific and affirms Australia’s commitment to assist Pacific Island Countries combat a wide range of maritime security threats within the region.

Court dismisses Palau’s case against Philippine fish carrier

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The Palau government’s case filed against the Philippine fish carrier, Gene 8, was dismissed last week due to lack of government witnesses.

The Attorney General’s Office filed a motion asking for a rescheduling of the trial, but Associate Justice Kathleen Salii denied the move.

Based on the motion of continuance of the AGO, the Palau government could not make  its case without witnesses because they were unavailable to appear before the court as prosecution witnesses.

Palau’s marine law officers seized Gene 8 in December of 2016. Palau’s patrol boat PSS Remeliik was conducting its marine surveillance when it found the vessel 45 miles northwest of Helen Reef.

The Gene No.8 was found moored to a fishing aggregation device, after which the marine officers boarded the vessel for an inspection.

The marine officers who were part of the surveillance operation during the apprehension of Gene 8 were at the time of the trial either in training off-island or on a surveillance mission outside of Koror.

The AGO also cited that that a new civil attorney hired by the AG’s office to handle the case has left the country in October and his contract was subsequently terminated in November.

Defense counsel for Gene 8 opposed the motion, saying that the AGO office had enough time to prepare for the trial and that the absence of witnesses during the trial is “inexcusable,” since they were aware of the trial date 74 days earlier.

The court gave credence to the defense counsel opposition and ordered the case dismissed. Justice Salii also ordered the return of the cash bail posted by the owners of the fish carrier. Saliil also ordered that the surety bond and cash bail posted are exonerated.

The Gene 8 itself was released on Oct 1 after posting a surety bond and allowed to sail back to the Philippines with the three remaining Filipino fishermen sent back home with the boat.

The Palau government offered to settle the case prior to the trial but the defense rejected the offer.

Closing the fisheries loopholes

Categories @WCPFC14, FeaturesPosted on

Authorities battle with e-monitoring

By NETANI RIKA, Pasay City, the Philippines

WHEN the Pacific met its international partners at the 12th Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in Bali, Indonesia in 2015 it was grappling with illegal operations at sea.

Figures at the time claimed that Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fisheries activities cost around $USD600million annually in the Pacific.

And 95 per cent of that activity – according to the international environment advocate, Greenpeace – is conducted by licensed vessels.

Robust guidelines put in place by the Forum Fisheries Agency have attempted to increase monitoring and surveillance of the purse seine fleet which operates in the region.

With around 90 per cent of the fleet monitored by on-board observers, the purse seiners are estimated to account for 70 per cent of illegal activities.

That’s according to figures released by the Pew Charitable Trust.

A Pew study reports harvested or trans-shipped tuna in the region at about $UDS616.11 million a year – 12 per cent of the $UDS5 billion paid to fishermen for their tuna catches in the region in 2014.

Despite recent efforts and observer coverage, the estimated volume of IUU product was found to be highest in the purse seine fishery, which accounted for 70 per cent of the illegal catch.

Much of that activity was driven by the use of illegal fish aggregating devices.

In the longline fleet transhipment of fish at sea, out of sight of authorities, was the weak point.

The Pew Charitable Trust’s Amanda Nickson said it was clear from the figures that transhipment at sea is unacceptable.

“Our position remains very clearly that transshipment at sea should be banned until there are sufficient controls in place to ensure that we don’t have it operating as a loophole for IUU activities,” Nickson said at the 14th WCPFC Meeting in the Philippines.

“At this point I don’t see that we’re seeing a great deal of political will to address the issue as we would like but we certainly hope to see improved discussion.”

James Gibbon of the Pew Charitable Trusts said the WCPFC initially envisioned transshipment as a rare event.

“Unfortunately because WCPFC has not formalized the guidelines like they were supposed to, they basically rubber stamped any request for long liners to trans-ship,” Gibbon said.

“So at this point, 52 per cent of long liners operating in the WCPFC have the authorization to trans-ship. And that is not what the WCPFC envisioned when they put these regulations in place.”

One of the other issues is confronting the industry is that independent observer reports are often not submitted to the WCPF Secretariat.

In 2016 there were approximately 900 at sea trans-shipments but only one observer report made it to the secretariat.

“So there is very little monitoring of what is going on,” Gibbon said

“There’s a lot of transshipment that initially was thought was not going to occur but as a result of commission inaction has actually allowed this to occur.”

Gibbon believes cooperation from all the relevant authorities is key to the success of any monitoring programme.

“The observer programmes (must make) sure that their reports are submitted both to the national, sub-regional and secretariat,” he said.

“And it’s going to take those authorities working together to cross check between the catch reports of the fishing vessels, the transshipment reports of what actually is transferred and then also the landing reports and making sure that all that information make sense.”

That speaks to a broader ongoing issue of needing a strong compliance regime within the commission.

Amanda Nickson: “We’ve see these trial compliance regimes roll through but we believe they could be more transparent and we believe there needs to be a more formalized and permanent compliance monitoring system in place. “

So, for how long will those discussions continue without concrete measures being put in place to end the illegal activities?

Forum Fisheries Agencies Director-General, James Movick, raised the issue of the need for more observers with the relevant equipment to report illegal activities in real time.

He was asked whether two years after talks in Indonesia the discussion on observers was merely talk without action and completely unachievable.

“No, I think we can achieve it. We’re experimenting,” Movick said.

“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 current work concentrated on how to adapt e-reporting standards for operating conditions in the Pacific.

“We should see a higher degree of monitoring capability for these boats,” Movick said.

“I don’t think it’s an impossible task but as the scientist do, there will be margins of errors built into the scientific analyses. By and large we will have sufficient, verifiable data the scientists will be happy that they’ve got something statistically sound.”

Movick and Ludwig Kumoru – CEO of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement – believe the e-monitoring option is possible in five years.

“With the way PNA is implementing the Vessel Day Scheme for the longline – within five -years is achievable,” Kumoru said.

“But first of all we need to get it done within our zones, then and only then can we look to extend it to the high seas.

The Parties to the Nauru Agreement are the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

PNA member countries allow tuna fisheries vessel owners to buy days of fishing at sea for a specific monetary value,

This scheme places a limit on the number of vessels operating in the waters of the PNA in an attempt to ensure resource sustainability.

Monitoring at sea, however, is only one part of the equation.

Strong observation measures in ports where fishing boats land their catch are equally important.

Amanda Nickson said strong port-state measures coupled with a credible observer base were two ways to stop IUU fishing.

Two years after Bali the gaps in the system remain

“We don’t yet have comprehensive port-state controls, we don’t yet have significant enough level of observer coverage on long liners and we don’t have a sufficient system in place to ensure the safety of those that were asking to help us ensure the system is legal and verifiable,” Nickson said.

“So there are a lot of gaps yet to plug.”

…/ENDS