No illegal fishing activities in the Pacific Islands region were discovered during a massive ten day operation called Operation Island Chief 2018 (OPIC18) covering more than 16.5 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean.

The operation aimed to detect, deter, report and/or apprehend potential illegal, unregulated or unreported (IUU) fishing activities, but no infringements or breaches were found.

OPIC18 ended on 3 August and involved hundreds of personnel from the ten Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) member nations including Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Palau, PNG, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, and the Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group (QUADs) – Australia, New Zealand, France and the United States.

In addition, patrol boats from Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, as well as aircrafts from Australia and the United States took part.

The OPIC18 was held in joint coordination led by the FFA’s Fisheries and Surveillance Centre (RFSC) team. Fisheries, Police Maritime Units and Navy officers of FFA members also joined the RFSC team as watch-keepers, working around the clock shifts during the operation, with the primary task of monitoring and analysing the Regional Surveillance picture and all incoming data from the QUAD surveillance providers.

A total of approximately 50 days at sea and 110 hours of air time was undertaken during the operation.

Chief of Staff – Petty Officer Waisake Tikoduadua from Fiji said in his role, he had to know watch keepers very well to ensure they were well organized in their watch and shift.

“Also to ensure daily briefs are prepared during the operation. I thank everyone for the great team work for OPIC18 and I am looking forward to working with FFA in future operations."

FFA Director General, James Movick was appreciative of everyone working together.

“As always we are thankful for the level of cooperation, commitment and engagement by our members and QUAD partners in safeguarding the Pacific fishery from Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported activity."

The OPIC18 is the third out of four FFA led operations held annually.