FFA members have endorsed the need for “port-to-port” monitoring of licensed foreign fishing vessels, so that the coastal State can monitor such vessels wherever they go.

Members of FFA would need to amend their legislation to require vessels applying for access to supply this information.

The trans-shipment measure under development by WCPFC was expected to be compatible with the measures adopted by FFA members.

In the majority of ports of FFA members, port sampling programmes were in place to record catch and verify compliance with given measures.

FFA indicated that small island developing States in its region would require capacity-building and technical and financial assistance in order to support the implementation of the FAO Guidelines and initiatives introduced at the international level.

In this regard, the FFA secretariat sought consideration from FAO in regards to capacity-building and the provision of technical assistance in conducting assessments.

Contributions received from the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) and the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) described general efforts and activities to sustainably manage fish stocks and protect vulnerable marine ecosystems.

FFA reported on several activities: the adoption by WCPFC in 2008 of the resolution on aspirations of small island developing States and territories; maintaining domestic development interests in measures adopted by WCPFC in 2008; promoting the interests of developing States at the second joint meeting of tuna regional fisheries management organizations in 2009; and ensuring that the SPRFMO Convention facilitated the participation of FFA members in accessing straddling stocks and high seas fish stocks in the high seas.

Increasingly, FFA members have become subject to market State requirements and conditions relating to health and sanitary standards and catch documentation standards, among others.

FFA reported that its members had continually improved the monitoring, control and surveillance regime in the Pacific Islands region since the 1980s, and a regional monitoring, control and surveillance strategy was expected to be finalized in 2010.

New Zealand has provided support to FFA which, in turn, supported developing member countries regarding the regulatory and policy environment for fisheries.

In that regard, FFA noted however that “opt-out” clauses in various conservation and management measures adopted by WCPFC were inevitable owing to the desirability of decision-making by consensus.

FFA has taken concrete steps to enhance the participation of its developing State members in fishing activity in the region, including providing for the protection of domestic development aspirations in WCPFC measures; protecting participation of developing States in the SPRFMO Convention; providing technical advice to members; and accommodating development plans in national management and development plans.

FFA reported that, in implementing the regional minimum terms and conditions for access to fisheries, its members applied agreed standards for port State control of fishing vessels.

The majority of FFA members have laws requiring trans-shipment to be conducted only in a designated port.

New Zealand worked through regional fisheries management organizations and regional fisheries bodies (CCSBT, FFA and WCPFC) to develop and implement strategies to deter vessel activities that undermined conservation and management measures.

It was the position of FFA members that the fleets of developed fishing States must be reduced or restructured to accommodate the aspirations of small island developing States to develop their own fisheries.

FFA noted that its members had actively participated in the revision of the WCPFC measure for cooperating non-members, which provides more clarity on the eligibility of non-members to become cooperating non-members and the conditions to be satisfied for the granting of participatory fishing rights.

FFA members adopted a regional tuna management and development strategy which recognized that, where fisheries were approaching or exceeding sustainable limits, there must be a reduction in fishing capacity in the WCPFC Convention area as fleets adjust to restricted fishing opportunities.

New Zealand provided support to Pacific regional institutions, including FFA, SPC and the Pacific Island Applied Geoscience Commission, and through bilateral development assistance programmes, to help developing Pacific Island States improve their participation in regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements.