Foreign Vessel Over-fishing in Fijian Waters

Overfishing is a global problem faced by many countries today that is having a serious repercussion by endangering the marine organisms in our oceans and affecting the livelihoods of many.

Fiji is the hub of the Pacific and here overfishing is a big problem attributed mostly to foreign fishing vessels who fish along the country’s fishing borders.

Owner of the Fiji Fish Limited Graham Southwick are among those heavily affected as result of overfishing along our economic zone waters in the hands of foreign fishing vessels.

“Overfishing by foreign fishing vessels are happening along our borders impacting our catch. There are already about 900 foreign fishing vessels fishing along our borders that are four times larger than before.

“This has resulted in the 60% decline in our catch and affecting our export that we use to have before,”Southwick said.

“The number of foreign vessels along our borders needs to be below 300 but now we are facing a crisis as we have about 900 foreign vessels along our fishing boundary.

“This led to a great repercussion for the fishing industry in the country as our local fishermen have to fight for survival and if foreign fishing vessel numbers continues along our fishing borders then industry won’t survive.

Southwick said while the foreign fishing vessels fish outside our waters at the same time they are doing a significant amount of damage as they stop migration of fish in our waters. “They heavily fish along our borders stopping the migration of fish in our waters,”Southwick said.

“Already we are seeing decline in fish numbers that can slowly lead to their extinction, “he said.

Southwick is calling on the Pacific Island countries to meet and discuss the issue of foreign fishing vessels in order to protect the local industry.

“These foreign vessels have subsidy from their Government so they don’t lose out much when they don’t make good catch whereas we heavily impacted because their (foreign fishing vessels) action continue to take away sizeable amount along our fishing borders reducing migration of fish in our waters,”Southwick said.
Another major stakeholder in Fiji’s fishing industry is the Fiji Tuna Boat Association. They have about 800 sea going personal.

Fiji Tuna Boat Association president Radhika Kumar said fishing industry is very challenging.

“We all are struggling to keep afloat. This is because there are too many foreign boats that fish in the high seas pockets or other island nations Exclusive Economic Zone waters.

“The tuna we catch in Fiji is a highly migrating species and over fishing in nearby waters has a direct impact on our domestic industry,” Kumar said.

A report published by an Asian Development Bank in July this year said fisheries are among the most important resources for smaller island economies and have been heavily exploited.

The Pew Charitable Trusts also published a report this year warning that the species Pacific bluefin, Southern bluefin and Atlantic bluefin, Atlantic and Pacific Bigeye and Indian Ocean Yellow fin are all currently overfished.

The ADB report revealed that the annual tuna fisheries catch in the western and central Pacific Ocean averaged 2-7 million metric tons, valued at $6.1 billion over 2011-2015. Of this, around 1.6 million metric tons worth $3.1 billion was taken in EEZs of the Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) members. A key economic challenge that FFA members face at both the national and regional levels, as they develop and implement management policies for the Pacific tuna fisheries, is to maximize their share of economic benefits flowing from the exploitation of the tuna resource.

Commenting on these reports, Southwick said the reports are just the general overview of the fishing industry in the Pacific Islands.

“If we count the number of foreign fishing vessels engage in the industry along our borders the reports would reveal more shocking statistics of the industry,”he added.

Meanwhile, Director of Fisheries in Fiji George Madden said their efforts to sustain the resource by setting limits within the sovereign zone may be in vain as efforts outside boundaries continue to increase due to foreign fleets fishing in these areas.

“The Fisheries Department is helping the local fishermen so that the business is not affected by the foreign fishing vessels by tax exemptions on fishing gears, supporting restrictions effort in the high seas, keeping foreign vessels out of fishing inside Fiji and providing some sort of a subsidiary fund for companies.

Madden said there are no foreign vessel licensed to fish in our waters. However, there are control measures in place to deter illegal fishing. These includes, vessel monitoring system, entering and exit notification, boarding and inspection, surveillance operations and enforcement work to name a few.