Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Jelta Wong says there is a need for comprehensive surveillance across the Pacific’s fishing grounds due to the lack of capacity to monitor the entire area effectively.
He made the comment during a media conference at the Pacific Tuna Forum in Nadi in response to question regarding plans by the forum to include countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and China in fishing surveillance in the future due to their involvement in illegal fishing.
“So, we find ways to mitigate the use of illegal fishing, because between countries, bilaterals are made, and then some of these countries that you mentioned may have done illegal fishing,” he said.
“This has to be right across the board in the whole Pacific, and our biggest problem is, as they said, we’ve got the largest area, but we don’t have the surveillance capacity to survey the whole area, so they come like thieves in the night.”
Mr Wong said PNG was partnering with foreign fisheries agencies to explore advanced surveillance programs, including those operated by non-fishing countries, to accurately locate vessels.
“In every Pacific Island country itself, they need to change their laws, amend their laws to put the maximum penalties for catching them, or allow one unique force within the region to survey the whole region.
“So if we use this monitoring system, and we find them in one place, then we can send the boats there to pick them up, and bring them back in, and make sure the Pacific Island nations are together on this, we make sure that we all have the same outcome when we catch them and that’s to make sure that they are punished for doing that.”
Mr Wong said illegal fishing was inevitable.
“The other problem is unreported fishing, where they have a licence, they say one thing, and then when you check it, it comes out on the other side, it’s a different story, and that’s how they scam the system, because we don’t have a policy in place where we stop them.
“They can do offshore processing, like they can put onto their motherships and go. In Papua New Guinea, under the new domestication policy that the NFA is pushing, you have to come onshore now. We want to see all our fish that are going out, so we know what species are going and what species are staying.”
Mr Wong said PNG hoped to replicate this in the Pacific.
“If we can all collaborate and process within ourselves, it will stop all this illegal fishing and the dream is, the vision is, when this is all done, all the fishing vessels are manned by Pacific Island nations. You would never have to talk about unemployment.”
