[Source: Ministry of Fisheries/Facebook]

Pacific Island countries need to invest more in technology to protect ocean resources from illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

Whilst speaking at the Food and Agriculture Port States Measures Agreement meeting in Nadi yesterday, Minister for Fisheries Semi Koroilavesau, says having a modern monitoring system to observe suspicious activities in the vast Pacific Ocean will be of great assistance.

“While Fiji is leading the region with the FAO-supported Vessel Monitoring System, which hopefully can be replicated in other PICs, it will greatly assist if PICs have access to constant ‘eye in the sky’ surveillance through satellite and other associated aerial surveillance systems.”

The Regional FAO Port States Measure Agreement is being held throughout the week.

A 2016 Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency revealed that hundreds of millions of dollars are lost annually to illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.