To enforce fishing rules in the Pacific, a US aircraft carrier has joined the fight to track down illegal tuna vessels, the www.navytimes.com has reported.
And Fiji’s World Wide Fund for Nature South Pacific Programme Office applauds the support the US Navy has done to protect important fisheries resources in the Pacific.
WWF says the fisheries resources are critically important for Pacific islanders as they support millions of lives and form the bedrock of island economies. WWF’s Western Central Pacific Tuna Programme Officer Alfred ‘Bubba’ Cook said a big challenge though was the lack of resources for effective monitoring of high seas piracy.
“It is a commendable effort,” Cook said.
“Most of the Pacific Island Nations do not have the resources to monitor nor effectively enforce fishing regulations in the areas outside their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ).
“The lack of enforcement resources and vastness of our ocean makes Fiji and other island nation’s fishery resources, especially high-value tuna, vulnerable to overfishing and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.
“The support from the US Navy to monitor and apprehend high seas fishing violators is seen as a net positive for these important fishery resources in the South Pacific,” he said.
The Navy Times reported that while mission is routine to the Coast Guard, it was the first time a US aircraft carrier was involved in fighting illegal tuna fishing in Oceania, a vast region northeast of Australia.
The report said officials say Oceania is important not only to U.S. economic prosperity, but also 22 Pacific island nations financially dependent on their local fisheries.
A key area is what’s known as the “Tuna Belt,” which runs along the equator and supplies 57 per cent of the world’s tuna.
Many livelihoods are threatened by illegal fishing, Coast Guard Commander Mark Morin, incident management branch chief with the Coast Guard’s 14th District in Honolulu reportedly said. “There’s about USD1.7 billion annually that is lost to illegal fishing ,” said Morin.
The Coast Guard’s limited assets make it tough for constant air and sea patrols to enforce maritime laws in Oceania.
Carl Vinson and its embarked carrier air wing, along with the cruiser Bunker Hill and destroyer Halsey, participated, marking the Navy’s biggest support of the mission yet. The Vinson’s jets, turboprops and helicopters flew more than five dozen sorties patrolling the region.
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