FISHERIES TALKS: Facing up to changes in funding, training, safety at work, and technology – F.F.A’s Conference Centre in the Solomon Islands is the hub for conversations this week on the challenges and opportunities facing Regional Observer Coordinators. 

In their 16th annual meeting, delegates from Pacific nations are reviewing progress since their last gathering in Noumea, New Caledonia, and setting next steps in the work of hundreds of Pacific observers who play a key part in ensuring the rules for vessels in the world’s tuna-rich fishery are kept.  Observer programme updates from Pacific nations, developments from the 12th Tuna Commission in Bali, training and accreditation standards and Observer careers, and the big issue of cost recovery and funding are all on the agenda, which ends with an Outcomes session this Friday. 

Data management and the impact of new technologies on reporting and data, as well as the role of regional support via S.P.C, F.F.A, P.N.A, and W.C.P.F.C are also on the agenda. 

Countries represented at the workshop include Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, FSM, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The workshop is led by S.P.C, F.F.A, P.N.A.O, W.C.P.F.C and N.O.A.A (US), with funding support from Japan through its Fisheries Promotion Fund, JPF.