Changes to Fisheries Act come into effect

 THE National Fisheries Authority (NFA) has made changes to the Fisheries Management Act 1998, which will come into effect this month to demand strict compliance from fishing vessels, especially tuna operators. 

MFA observer manager Philip Lens said with the recent amendments to the Act, tuna fishing license would be given out if fishing companies met certain conditions   applicable only in PNG. 

“This is in relation to observers-people mandated by the Fisheries Management Act to assess and report to NFA on how fishing vessels, especially tuna vessels, operate,” Lens said.

“This is to enable the vessel operators, especially tuna operators, to know where the observers stand, their obligations as well as the operators obligations towards the observers”, he said. “We’ve got eight special conditions under the license conditions.”

• It allows an authorised observer to board a vessel at any time and the operator shall provide accommodation and food free of charge;
• the vessel operator shall meet full observer costs-which is part of the licensing fee; and,
• the operator shall pay full per dium, an allowance (at a rate approved by NFA’s managing director) of an observer if he or she ended up in a foreign land among others.”

Lens stressed that in the South Pacific there were two conditions for operators fishing under the Federated States of Micronesia Arrangement (FSMA).  

These were:

• PNG will not place its own observers on all FSMA-PNG sponsored and PNG-flagged vessels fishing in other seven Parties to Nauru Agreement   countries exclusive economic zone. 

This is due to the hybrid approach and it is a rule under the European Union (EU). (However, if a vessel decided to fish only in PNG then it can carry a PNG observer); and,

• The PNG-FSMA and PNG-flagged vessel can carry a PNG observer in a case of emergency only.