From May to July 2023, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) joined our Pacific Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group (PQUAD) partners, France, New Zealand, and the United States of America, in Operation Nasse. For the first time Fiji also participated in the activity by conducting port inspections, an important element of the International Fisheries Patrol.

This is a joint media statement between the Australian Border Force and Australian Fisheries Management Authority

A multi-agency operation has been stood up in the Kimberley Marine Park (KMP) off the coast of Western Australia to combat unprecedented levels of illegal foreign fishing vessels being detected in the region in recent months.

 

This is a joint media statement between the Australian Border Force and Australian Fisheries Management Authority

Australian Border Force (ABF) has apprehended 30 illegal foreign fishers and seized and destroyed three fishing vessels this week as part of an ongoing operation targeting illegal fishing off the coast of Western Australia.

The gross value of Commonwealth fisheries in 2023 was estimated to be AUD $400 million dollars. Commonwealth fisheries, covering eight million km2 of water that extends from three nautical miles to the limit of the Australian Fishing Zone, sustainably produced a huge amount of high-quality sea food with over 37,800 tonnes delivered to local and international markets. (ref: ABARES 2023)

From May to July 2023, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) joined our Pacific Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group (PQUAD) partners, France, New Zealand, and the United States of America, in Operation Nasse. For the first time Fiji also participated in the activity by conducting port inspections, an important element of the International Fisheries Patrol.

Dockside boarding and inspection training has been delivered to Kiribati officials as a part of the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to build monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) capacity in the Pacific.  Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) officers were in-country on Kiritimati Island, Kiribati, to deliver dockside boarding and inspection training in late 2023. This training was delivered by AFMA, in partnership with New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industry (NZ MPI), and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA).

Sixty-six vessels have been registered under the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Treaty Village Vessel Registration Scheme after the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and Australian Border Force (ABF) led a delegation of Australian and PNG officials travelling to four Treaty Villages in PNG’s western province.

Inmarsat C Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) devices have now reached ‘end of life’. Twenty-nine per cent of the Commonwealth fleet are still relying on Inmarsat C devices to meet VMS obligations and need to take immediate action to replace the device. With only sixty days to go before Inmarsat C VMS devices must be replaced, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) urges operators to replace the devices, as soon as practicable, and before 22 March 2024.