[Source: Supplied]

A new World Bank funding of $18 million will enhance the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency’s monitoring and reporting capacity on illegal fishing in the region.

The scale of the Western and Central Pacific, which covers 11% of the world’s ocean, accounts for 60 percent of the world’s tuna catch, making the management of these stocks and the enforcement activities to combat illegal or unregulated fishing, major challenges.

The World Bank estimates that the region loses $739.86 million annually to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, Director General, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen says fisheries are vital to the economies of Pacific countries, and are the source of more than 40 percent of government revenue in six FFA member countries.

This makes the Forum Fisheries Agency: Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program: Second Phase for Economic Resilience critical to strengthening regional collaboration to safeguard the health of the Pacific’s much-valued fisheries sector through the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency.

World Bank Country Director for the Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea, Stephen Ndegwa says revenue from access fees paid by fishing vessels to Pacific countries has more than doubled over the past decades.

Ndegwa says that this increase was achieved not through increased catch, but through an increased rate of return.

This additional revenue ultimately means Pacific governments are in a better position to support their citizens’ needs, such as better education, improved healthcare, and more resilient infrastructure.

The program will support the Forum Fisheries Agency’s work to build region-wide platforms for fisheries management, strengthen surveillance and enforcement across maritime borders, and harmonize policies across the Pacific region, which is home to 60% of the world’s tuna catch.

The program will immediately benefit regional and national fisheries officials with improved capacity and working conditions, while also supporting a healthier marine environment and increased food security for the countries covered by the program.

FFA member countries receiving support through the project include the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

The new project will also support FFA in identifying and designing low-carbon solutions to upgrade its infrastructure and operations using renewable energy and ensure the FFA is protected from cybersecurity threats, a potential risk given the increasing crackdown on illegal fishing activities.

This new project builds on the first phase of the Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP), which has supported significant technical assistance for Pacific countries, strengthened the Pacific region-wide Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) with enhanced surveillance and enforcement, and built capacity to ensure Pacific tuna meets European Union seafood safety regulations.