AFMA Officers were recently deployed on Pacific Patrol Boats from Palau and Federated States of Micronesia in support of Operation Rai Balang 2014. Operation Rai Balang is one of four annual regional monitoring control and surveillance operations aimed at stopping illegal, unreported and unregulated, or IUU fishing, in the Pacific. Patrol boats from Palau, Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia participated in Rai Balang 2014, conducted in those nations’ exclusive economic zones plus the waters of Nauru, and Papua New Guinea. Maritime surveillance aircraft from Australia and the US supported the operation.
Rai Balang 2014 saw a high number of infringements, with Palau’s confiscation of fishing gear from two unlicensed fishing vessels and in the Federated States of Micronesia, one Patrol boat issued citations to half of the ten boardings it conducted. The Operation was deemed a success and in total 69 vessels were boarded throughout the Micronesian region. This is the second year that AFMA has been involved in Operation Rai Balang and further strengthens ties that exist between Australia and Pacific Island Countries in combating IUU Fishing.