FFA Regional Headquarters

FFA Regional Headquarters, Honiara, Solomon Islands, Tuesday

4 MAY 2010: This year’s Operation Rai Balang, a surveillance operation involving Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the US, coordinated by the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre, ended yesterday with success in the region’s activities to deter illegal fishing.

Over the past 10 days, Pacific patrol boats, Coast Guard vessels and aircraft have surveyed approximately 3,000,000 square kilometers of ocean and found no sign of illegal fishing. Approximately 100 people were involved in the surveillance effort from FSM, Palau and the US and 205 fishing vessels were monitored during the operation, 43 were sighted and 6 boarded. One vessel was found to be apparently operating without a valid licence and thus conducting illegal activity in Palau’s EEZ. The vessel has been escorted back to Koror for further investigation.

Operation Rai Balang 2010 involved aircraft and surface vessels from Palau, FSM and the US conducting surveillance and boarding operations of the vast areas of the Palau and FSM EEZ’s and the surrounding high seas. Pacific Patrol boats President H.I. Remeliik from Palau and FSS Micronesia from FSM complemented the surveillance by US Coastguard Cutters Sequoia and Assateague based in Guam and a P3C Orion surveillance aircraft provided by the US Navy based in Okinawa, to conduct patrols targeting Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing vessels.

This effort was coordinated by the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre, at the FFA regional headquarters in Honiara which collects fisheries information and data from all the regional countries. Using satellite tracking of vessels and other data, the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre produces interactive maps of vessels in the region which can show vessels that might be engaging in illegal fishing or have a previous history of illegal fishing. Using this analysis, the FFA Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre is able to advise all countries participating in an operation, locations where illegal activities are likely and coordinate the efforts of Pacific Islands and regional defence forces of US, France, New Zealand and Australia to best detect illegal activities. This increases the efficiency of surveillance operations and led to several successes such as Operation Kurukuru 2009 where 10 fishing vessels were boarded, 3 apprehended and fines in excess of USD1.4 were imposed.

Operations Officer and Coordinator of Operation Rai Balang, Martin Campbell said: “During Operation Rai Balang we have observed a significant reduction in the number of vessels conducting illegal activities. This is consistent with what the Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre has been seeing for some time now. It is clear that the concerted effort to continuously survey the regional waters is proving an effective deterrent to illegal fishing. Credit must also be given to the foreign fishing vessels which operate in the region most of whom are abiding to their registration and licence conditions and the conservation and management measures which the FFA members and Distant Water Fishing Nations have brought into force over the past two years.”

“In previous years the measure of effectiveness of the annual operations was based on the number of fishing vessels apprehended for a range of violations. If the outcome of Rai Balang 2010 is anything to go by, this year will see the effectiveness being judged by a reduction in illegal activity being undertaken, which is a sure sign the policing methods are working. However, we have still some way to go to ensure that we are 100% effective in our monitor, control and surveillance efforts and new initiatives to achieve this are being introduced all the time.”

FFA Director-General Su’a N.F. Tanielu said: "This operation's success builds on the political support of leaders who recognise the importance of monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing to the livelihoods of Pacific peoples. Our efforts to deter and detect illegal fishing are strengthened by the involvement of our surveillance partners in Operation Rai Balang, Australia and US, and the important contributions these countries and New Zealand and France make to our other regional surveillance operations. Together with our partners, FFA members look forward to developing policy and procedures that will build on successes like Operation Rai Balang to protect our region against illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing."

COMMENTS – OPERATION RAI BALANG 2010

Operations Officer and Coordinator of Operation Rai Balang, Martin Campbell said: “This is the second annual operation coordinated by the FFA and combined with the daily surveillance effort undertaken by the Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre here at the FFA regional headquarters in Honiara, continues to complement the MCS effort being undertaken by the FFA members and regional Defence Forces. I would like to take the opportunity of thanking all the countries and surveillance providers for their contribution to this key regional surveillance operation.”

“During this operation, countries have shared information from the Vessel Monitoring System, License Lists, surveillance flights and other fisheries data to really get a full picture about what is happening in the area of operations. With this regional surveillance picture, provided continuously by the FFA, countries can prioritise their patrols and send their Pacific Patrol Boats and surveillance aircraft where illegal activities are suspected or likely.”

“This operation continues to demonstrate to vessels fishing in the region that their day-to-day movements and activities are being monitored closely to ensure compliance with the regional and national fisheries regulations. We are now beginning to reap the rewards of this effort. Fishing vessels know we are closely monitoring them on a daily basis and the number of suspicious vessels we find has dropped significantly over the past few months.”

“This cohesive and cooperative approach by all the participating nations of Palau, FSM and the USA, is in keeping with the direction from the recent Forum Leaders’ conference, which highlighted the need for a regional approach to the monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing in the Pacific region”.

FFA Director-General Su’a N.F. Tanielu said: "This operation's success builds on the political support of leaders who recognise the importance of monitoring, control and surveillance of fishing to the livelihoods of Pacific peoples. Our efforts to deter and detect illegal fishing are strengthened by the involvement of our surveillance partners in Operation Rai Balang, Australia and US, and the important contributions these countries and New Zealand and France make to our other regional surveillance operations. Together with our partners, FFA members look forward to developing policy and procedures that will build on successes like Operation Rai Balang to protect our region against illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing."

FACTSHEET – OPERATION RAI BALANG 2010

COUNTRIES MONITORED: Palau, FSM and surrounding High Seas.

SIZE OF AREA MONITORED: approximately 3 million square kilometres

PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES: FSM, Palau and USA.

JOINT COORDINATION CENTRE: Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), regional headquarters in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS: Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, National Fisheries, Police, United States Navy, United States Coast Guard and Australian Defence Force Maritime Surveillance Advisers.

HEADQUARTERS STAFF: The Joint Coordination Centre at FFA was manned mainly by staff from FFA supplemented by officers from Palau and FSM. The National Headquarters in Palau and FSM plus the USCG Regional Centre in Guam controlled their respective surveillance vessels and aircraft.

MARITIME RESOURCES USED: 7 Pacific Patrol Boats (from Palau and FSM and the US Coastguard Cutters SEQUOIA and ASSATEAGUE.

AERIAL RESOURCES USED: 1 P3C Orion supplied by the US Navy.

FFA OPERATIONS ROOM RESOURCES: FFA hosted operational headquarters at its office in Honiara, Solomon Islands. FFA also built and ran the E-Operations system which collects, displays and analyses aircraft and boat movements over the entire operations area in an interactive display. The surveillance picture is provided continuously from the FFA regional headquarters to all participants and allows member countries to view the same information about what is happening at sea in their country and the region.

ENDS

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