Delegates of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group visited Golden Ocean Fish Ltd factory in Suva giving them a chance to witness the processes that are undertaken to make fish compliant for export.
In 2012 it was discovered that Fiji did not have in place the relevant legal and policy framework to appropriately contribute to combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing.
Permanent Secretary for Fisheries and Forests Inoke Wainiqolo says Fiji was warned with a yellow card and directed to comply with the European Union’s IUU regulations or we’d lose our market access.
Fiji has two areas that we need to improve on which are our legislation as well as the number of people that are required to monitor the operations in the sea and well as our processes.
After years of working hard, Fiji managed to comply with the EU standards last year and has been sharing its experience with other countries.
Illegal fishing is estimated to cost the region up to $1.7 billion per year and it has the potential to significantly erode the benefits to Pacific Island people associated with tuna fisheries.
FBC