[Source: scoop.co.nz]

Nine Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency Observers have been successfully repatriated to their respective countries on a chartered flight on Tuesday 7th July, 2020.

All of these observers were disembarked from United States fishing boats in Pago Pago, American Samoa over the past several weeks.

The repatriation exercise was financed by the American Tunaboat Association (ATA) member vessel owners and coordinated closely with the observers’ national programmes, and the FFA.

Those that were repatriated include 2 Fijians, 4 Solomon Islanders, and 3 Papua New Guineans.

They are now being quarantined in different quarantine locations in their home countries since their arrival.

Some of these Observers had been away from their home countries since December 2019 or early 2020 due to the closure of borders as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Source: scoop.co.nz]