Countries pull out observers from ships

THE Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) has suspended the 100 per cent observers’ coverage requirement for all purse seiners fishing in its waters as reported by Radio New Zealand.
The bloc has taken the step to allow tuna fleets to continue to operate in the Pacific in recognition of the threats faced by the industry from the Covid-19 pandemic.
PNA chief executive Ludwig Kumoru, in a circular dated March 27, said the suspension would be in force until May 31.
“PNA members have been meeting to address the extraordinary, unforeseen threats arising from the Covid-19 pandemic to the welfare of observers, the operations of the purse seine fishery and the contribution of the regional tuna fishery to local and global food security, without undermining the effectiveness of efforts to conserve regional tuna resources and manage regional tuna fisheries,” he said in the letter.
Kumoru said the temporary suspension was in response to a request from all fishing industry operating in the PNA waters, including US treaty vessels.
However, the suspension is based on several conditions, including a requirement that the vessel operators shoulder the costs of repatriating observers currently onboard a vessel.
Vessels that fail to repatriate an observer, will not be allowed to operate in PNA waters.
Fleets should also make sure that their vessel monitoring system (VMS) is working and if VMS fails, the vessel may continue to operate for up to 72 hours without VMS reporting, provided that the vessel: reports hourly position data manually; maintains AIS (vessel positioning website) reporting and maintains daily electronic data log sheet reporting.
The tuna fleets argued it was essential that the supply of tuna continued, especially in time of crisis when canned tuna was one of the in-demand emergency food staples.
The Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) also supported the PNA’s move.
FFA comettee chairman Eugene Pangelinan said the FFA recognised that “these unprecedented times with the Covid-19 pandemic present unforeseen challenges.