Seafood trade groups in Australia and New Zealand have given their backing to measures that would increase third-party observation of their respective fleets.
In June, Icelandic tech company Trackwell recently won an open tender to provide vessel monitoring system (VMS) services for Australia’s commercial fisheries. The Trackwell VMS will support the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and partner agencies to monitor vessel movements and use the positional data received from the system to analyze the vessels’ behavior, for both law enforcement and resource management purposes. The Trackwell system will ensure continuous compliance with the country’s fisheries management regulations, according to a statement from AFMA. The system will also support future integration and compatibility with the FLUX (Fisheries Language for Universal Exchange) system to assist and support the distribution of fisheries-related data to regional fisheries management organizations.
In addition, AFMA has introduced a draft transshipping policy and new guidelines for the authorization of transshipping activities in Australia waters. The policy is intended to implement a more efficient and cost-effective fisheries management while ensuring that “the exploitation of fisheries resources and the carrying on of any related activities are conducted in a manner consistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development,” according to AFMA.
“AFMA’s draft transhipping policy is about ensuring best practice. This includes reporting, monitoring and data sharing with relevant bodies,” AFMA CEO James Findlay said in a press release. “AFMA’s monitoring includes the use of cameras and/or on-board observers, as well as compliance officers.”
Meanwhile, in New Zealand, a protected species mitigation plan has been implemented for the entire inshore commercial fishing fleet.
The plan, which had already been in effect for the deepwater and surface long-line sectors, will be adopted by the inshore fleet over the next two years. The programs will include the requirement that each fishing operator develop and implement a set of operational procedures for the mitigation of risk to protected species.
Fisheries Inshore New Zealand CEO Jeremy Helson said while the vast majority of vessels already practiced extensive mitigation measures, the new program codifies and extends what is required of the country’s commercial fishing fleet, with the goal of aiming for zero bycatch.
"The industry understands the importance of protecting birds and animals and there's certainly been a real acknowledgement of that - fishermen out there love seeing birds and animals around their boats - but they don't want to be catching them,” Helson told New Zealand media group Stuff.
Helson told Stuff the geographical spread and frequent trips undertaken by the inshore fleet would require some significant logistical work to ensure compliance, but that the industry backed the effort.
"It's going to take a bit of time to work through, but we're certainly not getting any major resistance,” he said.
Industry group Seafood New Zealand also recently released a statement saying the organization backed the use of adequately-trained fisheries observers on-board its vessels.
“The fishing industry supports observers on its vessels,” the group said. “In the last year, around 9,000 observer days were recorded, paid for by the industry.”
The group said it was working with the country’s in-shore fleet and Fisheries Inshore New Zealand to improve observer coverage for smaller coastal vessels.
“We need the information that observers collect as it’s important for fisheries management,” Helson said. “Our skippers do co-operate in the vast majority of cases and relationships with the 100 or so observers are good. We don’t condone refusal to carry an observer where there are no valid reasons.”
