St Helena : Report on UKOT Workshop in London by Senior Fisheries Officer
Submitted by Saint Helena Herald (Juanita Brock) 16.05.2009 (Article Archived on 30.05.2009)
By kind invitation of the Overseas Territories Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Gerald Benjamin, Senior Fisheries Officer within the Agricultural and Natural Resources Department attended a 2-day workshop in London to explore ways of enhancing assistance to Overseas Territories in realising their fisheries potential and obligations under the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
REPORT ON UKOT WORKSHOP IN LONDON BY SENIOR FISHERIES OFFICER
By kind invitation of the Overseas Territories Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Gerald Benjamin, Senior Fisheries Officer within the Agricultural and Natural Resources Department attended a 2-day workshop in London to explore ways of enhancing assistance to Overseas Territories in realising their fisheries potential and obligations under the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
The Workshop was held on the 24th and 25th February at the Royal Horticultural Society Conference Centre in London and was attended by fisheries representatives from the UK Overseas Territories of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, St Helena and Ascension. Senior officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Department for International Development (DFID), Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Marine Fisheries Agency (MFA) and Marine Resources Assessment Group (MRAG) were also in attendance.
Scott Parnell of the FCO opened the first session for the first day which began with an introductory welcome and then outlining the purpose for the workshop and the obligations for the Overseas Territories under ICCAT.
John Pearce of MRAG then gave an introductory presentation on ICCAT and its fisheries, its distribution and seasonality and the status of the stocks relative to the Overseas Territories. The role of the UK Government and the part of the UK Overseas Territories were also discussed during this session.
During the second session for the morning, presentations were made by individual fisheries representatives on the description of the fisheries in their respective areas and the problems encountered.
It was interesting to note that the other Overseas Territories, all of which came from the Carribean area, were mainly directed to sports fishing whereas St Helena and Ascension were more directed to commercial fishing. The key problems highlighted by all Overseas Territories were Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing taking place in the waters of each Overseas Territory and also the high costs associated in being a member of ICCAT.
For the two sessions in the afternoon, attention focussed on data reporting obligations by the Overseas Territories and the FCO's responsibilities and representation at ICCAT. This was followed by another presentation by MRAG on surveillance options (e.g. VMS, SAR) and also the observer programme systems.
The second day centred around the first day's discussions exploring practical solutions to key problems encountered and setting out future work programmes within the obligations to ICCAT. As expected, it was difficult to come away with any definite solutions to the problems experienced by each individual territory.
However the problems highlighted seemed to be common to each territory and it was valuable to have been able to present individual cases on a face to face basis.
It was pleasing to note from the Workshop that St Helena seemed well advanced in its obligations and reporting procedures under ICCAT which was in part due to its active participation in ICCAT over many years.
The Workshop was beneficial in that it provided the opportunity to engage directly with the FCO, MRAG and DEFRA (who is involved with their responsibility in ICCAT) in trying to realise our fisheries potential and also to gain a better understanding of our obligations as well as our problems within ICCAT.
Following the workshop, time was spent meeting with other personnel associated with the fisheries on St Helena. On Thursday, 26 February, a meeting was held at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London with personnel from the FCO and Mr Ian Thomson of Argos to discuss the implementation of new documentation for the export of fish into the EU, due to come into force as of 1st January 2010, and other matters concerning the operations and reporting requirements of the Argos vessels in CCAMLR waters.
On Friday, 27 February, a visit was made to the MRAG offices in London gaining an insight into the operations of the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) which MRAG are managing on behalf of the St Helena Government. The main purpose of this system is to track St Helenian flagged vessels (Argos Helena, Argos Georgia and Argos Froyanes) on a regular basis to ensure that they comply with their international obligations and also to track distant waters nation's vessels when operating under licence in the St Helena and Ascension Island's Exclusive Economic Zones.
The visit also provided the opportunity to meet with Mr. Dick Beales who has just recently been appointed Fisheries Advisor to SHG, to discuss other fisheries matters for St Helena now and in the future.
Published in the St Helena herald on Friday, 15 may 2009
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