THE Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) says the system for monitoring and surveillance of the region’s fisheries is operating un-sustainably and needs to change.
The policing system has been heavily reliant on aid for for more than a decade.
A review of the programme by the Forum Fisheries Agency is being presented to Pacific ministers in Honiara this week.
The agency’s Director General, James Movick said the system had been a huge success and the aim was to keep up quality while getting Pacific countries to carry more of the cost.
“A large part of the effort that we will be undertaking with our member countries is to strengthen their national management capacities in order to manage their own surveillance programs to the extent they wish to or need to and to derive a fair amount of cost recovery that that allows them to cover their costs while not being unduly punitive or onerous on the boats themselves.”
Mr Movick said the FFA was keeping an eye on new surveillance technology as a cost-effective method of monitoring in the future.
