The Fiji Navy will from next year have vessels that will allow women to be able to serve out at sea.

Currently, there are 28 women serving in the Navy with 15 more now participating in the basic recruitment course over the next 12 weeks.

Navy Chief, Captain Humphrey Tawake says currently women do a range of jobs, however, they have been unable to serve at sea given the restrictions on the current fleet.

This, however, will change from next year with the arrival of one of two Guardian Patrol Boats in March.

“The capacity of the boat is for 23 personnel on board the boat, it can accommodate females as well and it has an endurance of 3000 nautical miles at 12 knots, that’s far more than what the current Pacific patrol boats can do.”

Meanwhile, the Fiji Navy spent around 179 days at sea last year excluding search and rescue as part of its border surveillance and monitoring.

These operations lasted between 10 to 14 days.