March 2018 No Images? Click here Newsletter of the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Secretariat for members, participating territories and observers.
Executive Director, Feleti P Teo, OBE Welcome to the first edition of the Secretariat Quarterly for 2018, the e-newsletter that updates you on news on the Commission and the work of the Commission Secretariat. 2018 will be a big year for the Commission with a suite of intersessional activities sanctioned by the Commission at its WCPFC14 meeting in Manila, Philippines in December 2017. The Manila meeting was a meeting to remember with its final day proceedings ended after 3am the following morning. Despite the late ending, the meeting was a huge success with the adoption of a new measure on tropical tunas that succeeded the measure that lapsed at the end of 2017. This was a major undertaking by the Commission over the last two years with the Commission Chair Ms Rhea Moss-Christian led broad and inclusive consultations with members and stakeholders including two intersessional meetings of the Commission to progress negotiations of the new tuna measure. Although much should be celebrated for the achievement, much remains to be worked on with a number of provisions of the new tropical tuna measure are for 12 months duration only and they are expected to be reviewed and renegotiated at the WCPFC15 meeting taking into account the advice of the Scientific Committee. The Scientific Committee is expected to review and refine bigeye stock information with additional fish growth analysis, undertake a south pacific albacore stock assessment, and facilitate greater space to accelerate discussions on harvest strategy issues. A number of intersessional working groups were tasked by the Commission to progress specific issues in 2018. Two of these working groups on Electronic Reporting and Electronic Monitoring and FAD Management Option are expected to have face to face meetings at the margins of the SC14 and TCC14 meetings respectively. The remainder of the working groups are virtual groups and will function electronically. They include working groups on the comprehensive approach to shark management, the Compliance Monitoring Scheme review and development of a new measure, Special Requirement Fund and the TCC working group on observers. The work of the working groups will be led by representatives of member countries with support from the Secretariat. As may be evident from the articles in this newsletter, the Secretariat has been active with participation at various meetings and activities and the schedule for the Secretariat will unfortunately get busier as the year progresses. We at the Secretariat look forward to continue working with all members and stakeholders towards achieving and sustaining the objective of the Commission. I wish all a prosperous and fulfilling 2018.
Progressing Compliance-Related Outcomes from WCPFC14The 2018 version of the hard copy booklet that the Secretariat prepares containing CMMs relevant to observers’ work has been prepared, and will shortly be distributed to the various Regional Observer Programmes as requested. If you need further assistance, please contact our ROP Coordinator, Karl Staisch (karl.staisch@wcpfc.int). The Secretariat Compliance team has commenced preparations for Compliance Monitoring Scheme measure implementation in 2018. Members, participating territories and cooperating non-members (CCMs) have been recently advised of the availability on the Annual Report Part 2 online reporting systems. This year’s Scheme preparations duly considered the updated list of obligations approved for review in 2018. If you need further assistance, please contact our Compliance Manager, Dr Lara Manarangi-Trott (lara.manarangi-trott@wcpfc.int) or Assistant Compliance Manager, ‘Ana F. Taholo (ana.taholo@wcpfc.int). Links to key Compliance information: A suggested list of key reporting deadlines in 2018 and reporting templates can be accessed from this link [https://www.wcpfc.int/compliance-monitoring]. An e-compilation of the complete list of currently in force conservation and management measures (CMMs), including the new CMMs from WCPFC14 can be accessed from this link [http://www.wcpfc.int/conservation-and-management-measures]. Copies of other key documents and guidelines can be accessed from this link [https://www.wcpfc.int/guidelines-procedures-and-regulations]. Final Report on the Review of the Compliance Monitoring Scheme that can be accessed from this link [https://www.wcpfc.int/compliance-monitoring]. In addition to routine Scheme preparations, there are other activities that the Secretariat has been involved intersessionally including: 1. Supporting the Review Panel who recently completed their Final Report on the Review of the Compliance Monitoring Scheme; 2. Assisting the Chairs of various Intersessional Working Groups with their preparations for 2018: notably the CMS-IWG and ERandEM WG; 3. Participating in the two IWGs that are presently underway: Comprehensive Shark CMM IWG and TCC Observer-related IWG; 4. Planning the delivery in 2018 of Secretariat assistance in compliance/ Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and ROP areas, in response to CCM requests or through opportune participation of Secretariat staff at upcoming regional workshops or related meetings; 5. Planning of routine ROP audits scheduled for 2018, including the observer programmes of Japan, New Zealand, Portugal and Parties to Nauru Agreement Observer Agency; 6. Finalising, with our IT contractors, the work plan and schedule for completing a Stage 1 implementation of high seas transshipment E-reporting before the end of 2018; 7. The VMS team will soon be issuing for each flag CCM supporting files of WCPFC VMS reporting status for each of their vessels over the period January and February 2018 (this will be available through each CCMs portal on the website and will be a preliminary response to the WCPFC14 VMS-reporting task to the Secretariat). If you need further assistance, please contact our VMS Manager, Albert Carlot (albert.carlot@wcpfc.int); and 8. Continuing discussions with our counterparts at Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) on preparations of arrangements that are necessary to operationalize the Memorandum of Cooperation for Endorsement of WCPFC ROP Observers for observing transshipments of southern Bluefin tuna on the high seas. Karl Staisch, Regional Observer Programme Coordinator & Lara Manarangi-Trott, Compliance Manager (Front row left) with Regional Observers Coordinators Workshop participants in front of WCPFC HQ building, Pohnpei, FSM, 5 Feb 2018. Regional Observer Coordinators WorkshopThe Regional Observers Coordinators workshop for the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) member country observer programmes (ROCW) was held in Pohnpei, FSM at the Commission Headquarters from 5 to 9 February 2018. There were 61 participants from 18 programmes and organisations who attended the workshop, including our Regional Observer Program Coordinator and Compliance Manager. Several items discussed included; FFA/SPC Data Consultative Committee (DCC) strategies particularly for electronic reporting and electronic monitoring, observer safety including Emergency Action Procedures (EAP’s), “Safety at Sea”, separate observer cabins on vessels, equipment, monitoring, health and observer insurance, protection of observers, observer data and the flow of this data, quality assurance of data, transshipment workbooks, observer and debriefing roles, 2018 training schedules, tagging programmes and certification of observers under the PIRFO process. The discussion paper prepared for consideration intersessionally by the TCC Observer-related IWG was also introduced and considered. A summary report on the meeting is available on the SPC website at this link: http://oceanfish.spc.int/en/rocw-2014/466-17th-regional-observer-coordinators-workshop . 'Ana Taholo, Assistant Compliance Manager, Lara Manarangi-Trott, Compliance Manager & Sam Taufao, ICT Manager with 2nd Workshop of the Tuna Compliance Network participants at FFA HQ grounds, Honiara, Solomon Islands , 15 Feb 2018. WCPFC Participates in Tuna Compliance Network Meeting |