Capacity building
with Australia’s regional counterparts plays a pivotal role in reducing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing before potential illegal fishers even put their lines in the water.
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) regularly deploys our officers to conduct in-country training and courses with countries across the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Over the last decade we’ve seen how this training has made a difference with the number of illegal fishing apprehensions significantly dropping from record highs of more than 300 in 2006.
Earlier this month, two AFMA officers assisted the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Secretariat in providing training at the recently convened Regional Port State Measures (PSM) training on National Interagency Collaboration and Regional Cooperation. This was conducted in Phuket, Thailand. IOTC is the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation responsible for the managing and sustaining tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean.
There were participants from seven countries including Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, showing the level of commitment there is in the region to reduce illegal fishing.
The training focused on the Implementation of IOTC Resolution 10/11 on PSM to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing through the implementation of effective port state measures to control the harvest of fish in the IOTC Area. The PSM Agreement obligates port states to take action and refuse entry to fishing vessels suspected to be involved in IUU fishing. This mechanism disrupts the business model of IUU operators by cutting off access to port services and therefore removing the opportunity to unload their unlawfully obtained catch.
The training consisted of classroom instruction and exercises, and closed with a role play session where all delegates got to put on their acting shoes and negotiated a successful outcome under the IOTC Port State Measures Resolution. The training was well received and under the IOTC’s banner of ‘working together’, showed what can be achieved in fighting IUU fishing.