The COVID-19 pandemic is still preventing the deployment of fisheries observers on purse-seine tuna vessels as the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission once again extended the suspension of fisheries observer coverage in the region for three months.
In a circular memo dated 12 May, WCPFC Chair Jung-re Riley Kim stated that “the commission agrees to suspend the requirements for observer coverage on purse seine vessels until 15 August, 2021.”
The circular also prohibits, until 15 August, transshipment at sea by purse-seine vessels.
It has been over a year since the WCPFC member countries decided to suspend fisheries observers to protect them from COVID-19 infection.
Several member countries of WCPFC continue to impose travel restrictions, and while some areas have started to reopen borders, others have had to close them again due to the resurgence of variants of the virus. Plus, while some of the countries have rolled out successful vaccination programs, especially in the North Pacific, others are still lagging behind in their vaccination rollouts.
Last month the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency also provided the WCPFC COVID-19 operating protocols for the fishing sector in the Pacific.
FFA said the “protocols have been developed to assist and guide the fishing sector, flag states, coastal states, and island state governments manage the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 on the fishing industry in the Pacific islands region.”
The aim of the protocols, FFA said, is to guide practices that prevent the transmission of COVID-19 on and between fishing vessels and ports.
According to the WCPFC Secretariat quarterly newsletter released last month, COVID-19 outbreaks are still an issue, especially with the new variants complicating the situation. Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, where the commission is located, currently remains pandemic-free.
“The start of 2021 brought major relief to the Secretariat when at the end of January 2021, the Moderna vaccine, one of the U.S.A. COVID-19 vaccines, was made available to Secretariat’s staff, contractors, and family members by the FSM government,” WCPFC Executive Director Feleti Teo said.
He added that the majority of WCPFC staff, contractors, and their families in Pohnpei have been vaccinated.
Photo courtesy of Human Rights At Sea
