Brussels, 03/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - At its annual meeting, in Valdivia, Chile, from 25 to 29 January, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) adopted a series of important conservation and enforcement measures demonstrating its commitment to sustainable fisheries in the region, said the European Commission in a press release published on Monday 1 February.
The conservation measure agreed by the parties for jack mackerel, the main commercial stock managed by the organisation, sets a total allowable catch of 460,000 tonnes for 2016 in line with the recommended limit of the Scientific Committee. The EU's share of 28,100 tonnes is exactly the same as in 2015. The member states fishing in the area managed by the SPRFMO are Poland, the Netherlands, Germany and Lithuania.
The Commission says that a number of conservation measures were adopted to regulate deep sea fishing and new exploratory fisheries in the region.
The SPRFMO also strengthened its monitoring and compliance functions. For the first time, it carried out a compliance review of its members against their obligations. A Russian flagged vessel was added to the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessel list, which also contains another Russian and a Peruvian flagged vessel. A new measure was adopted establishing that vessels without nationality fishing in SPRFMO waters are engaged in IUU fishing and paving the way for consequent sanctions.
It was also decided to launch the selection process for providing the SPRFMO with a vessel monitor system (VMS) to improve its capacity to monitor vessels operating in the area. A VMS service provider will be selected at the next annual meeting which is due to take place in Australia in January 2017. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)