Results for FFA

The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) today, 21 March, launched a major upgrade and development to their monitoring and surveillance efforts, with two new systems built for vessel registrations and Port State Measures. The e-PSM system is a critical tool in the fight against Ilegal Unreported and Unregulated fishing (IUU) in the Western and Central Pacific. Tonga is the first country to implement the e-PSM which allows efficient data exchange.

Key management measures were rolled over to secure the tuna fishery for the coming year, said Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director General, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen. This was after a virtual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) last week.

Samoa signed a Memorandum of Understanding formalising its support for the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Regional Aerial Surveillance Program on February 28.

A Tongan lawyer, Dr Manumatavai Tupou-Roosen, is the new Director General of the Forum Fisheries Agency starting in November this year.

In the Pacific region many of the natural disasters experienced are related to water and climate, Hon. Samuel Manetoali told the opening meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council on August 14 in the Solomon Islands, saying "We are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change... and climate variability". By Linny Folau in Honiara.

Efforts to reach an agreement between Pacific parties and the US on the fishing treaty is still ongoing. The US request for fewer fishing days was discussed at a Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) meeting in Nadi, Fiji, last week.

Five days of exhaustive talks at the annual meeting for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) have yielded mixed results for Pacific Island states, in Bali this week. Among the major successes, members were able to agree on a target reference point for skipjack tuna - the Pacific’s most valuable stock. However, other important and fragile fish stocks like albacore tuna will have to wait another year for development of harvest strategies

A Forum Fisheries Agency Awareness Workshop on measures to combat illegal fishing is being held for local authorities in Nuku’alofa on March 3-5.

There is a urgent need for Pacific nations to rise above national agendas and act regionally, to respond effectively to the economic crisis in the Pacific’s albacore long line fisheries, warns the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency Director-General James Movick. Pacific countries will also need to confront distant water fishing nations to reconcile their narrow fishing interests with their broader role as key strategic and development partners of this region, he said.