Operations & Development Division

Matelina Stuart  Operations & Development  , , ,
Tala Moana
RV Tala Moana

Fisheries remains an important source of food, income and cultural identity for the people of Tuvalu. While the majority of fish consumed locally comes from coastal fisheries, production has decreased significantly in the last decade despite indications in our island communities of increasing fishing pressure. This suggests that the marine resources that support coastal fisheries in our communities are fully or over-exploited. This situation is likely further exacerbated by the impacts of climate change in coastal areas.

In order to maintain current levels of consumption of fisheries marine resources, TFD will need to develop improved fisheries management of near-shore resources as well as utilize adaptive responses that assist with the reduction in pressure and threats to marine resources. Thus, greater efforts are required to promote the contribution of small-scale fisheries to food security and nutrition at the same time as enhancing the socio-ecological resilience of our island fishing communities.

Objective

“Supporting sustainable development of small-scale fisheries for livelihoods, food security and healthier diets”

Major Tasks

The Operation and Development section is responsible for a range of activities which are divided into 4 main tasks, which includes:

  • Livelihoods
  • FAD Program
  • Safety at sea program
  • Vessel operation

 Task One: Livelihoods

Revenue generating activities (RGAs) related to near-shore fishing are promoted and piloted in the target sites, including for youth and women. The following activities are to be carried out under this component;

  1. Training on fish processing, fish handling and production of smoke fish, tuna jerky and bottling
  2. Develop a packaging and marketing strategy for domestic / export sales of new products in or from Tuvalu
  3. Study on post-harvest products from tuna/pelagic and undertake trials to assess economic viability in Tuvalu.

 Task Two: FAD program

Awareness raising will be conducted to disseminate information on benefits of FADs and new fishing techniques (to be done together with the safety at sea programming). FADs will be deployed based on the adopted selection design and method in select areas to pilot new community FAD programmes. Training on FAD fishing will be given to trainers in the fisheries administration and fisher associations (training of trainers) and as well as directly to fishers. Partnerships between experts in FAD design and deployment within Fisheries sector and Fisher’s Associations will be supported with a focus on new fishing techniques, the maintenance of FADs and on other related aspects such as safety at sea and fish handling. Technical assistance will be procured to promote innovative local governance arrangements (FAD management plan and FAD MoU) to help fishers use and maintain the FAD adequately, safely and sustainably. O&D envisioned that all FADs construction in the future will be carried out by fishermen, but O&D will assist in the deployment. The following activities are to be carried out under this component;

  1. Rig and Deploy 9 FADs (including the >5n.mi offshore FAD in Funafuti), one on each island except Niulakita.
  2. Maintenance and Repair of existing FADs
  3. Training on FAD Fishing Technology
  4. Develop Anchored FAD management plan
  5. Signing of Revised FAD MoU

Task Three: Enhanced Safety at sea program

Assistance will design to improve training programmes on safety at sea, prevention of accidents and search and rescue (SAR). Trainings will be practical and include testing in real conditions with appropriate equipment including training of trainers through partners and regional institutions. Large-scale awareness raising will be promoted to reach out to fishers and their communities (including women and youth), so that fishers are better equipped and trained to prevent or handle any incident at sea during fishing operation. Activities under this component are as follows;

  1. Procure and distribute more Grab Bags to outer islands
  2. Training on how to utilize Grab bag items – at least one training on each island
  3. Training in maintenance and repair on Out board motor – all islands
  4. Checked and Maintained grab bag items yearly (Metronome trips)
  5. Procure and Install VHF repeater for Funafuti

Task Four: Vessel Operation

TFD is operating 2 vessels (RV Manaui and RV Tala Moana). Maintenance of both vessels continues to be a priority activity given their old age. The fact is both vessels has reached the stage where continuous repairs and maintenance has become the norm. Therefore, keeping both vessels operational and sea worthy is a big task for our section. A project to replace RV Manaui is now in progress with the support of JICA.

Despite both vessels’ old age and frequent breakdowns, both vessels will continue to provide services to both the Government and the people of Tuvalu. Thus, O&D will ensure both vessels operate in a safe condition and meets the Maritime standards. However, O&D will undertake the following activities to ensure both vessels provides the best and safer service to the Government and the Public;

  1. Execute 20 charters per vessel
  2. Generate revenues to meet operational cost for Tala Moana.
  3. Regular maintenance on both vessels
  4. Liaise with JICA on new Manaui status

Coastal Fisheries Division

Matelina Stuart  Coastal  , , , , , , , ,

20858606703_10f928bfae_h_0All of the Tuvaluan population is coastal and highly reliant on inshore fisheries for their subsistence and local economic needs. Coastal fisheries are grossly undervalued in national accounting and development planning. Decades of poor or neglected management means that many coastal fisheries are fully exploited. Boom and bust exploitation has nearly collapsed the reproductive stocks of a number of marine species and altered food web relationships, affecting ecosystem productivity and food security.

The key mandate of the Coastal Fisheries Division is to ensure the sustainability of inshore resources for present and future generations of Tuvalu.  All activities have been aligned to achievement the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) under the Tuvalu National Sustainable Strategy (Te Kakenga III) and also the TFD Corporate Plan (2020-2022).

Key activities of the division for 2020 will focus around priority activities of the three key sub-units of the division which comprise of;

Funafuti: Because of its high population concentration and relatively high degree of urbanisation, the fisheries management needs and issues in Funafuti are somewhat different than those of the outer islands. This is why it is important for some efforts to concentrate on ensuring the sustainability of inshore resources on Funafuti to accommodate food security issues and support livelihoods of the local population. For 2020, most of activities for Funafuti will be including those mandatory activities under the Funafuti Reef Fisheries Stewardship Plan (FRFSP). The FRFSP also creates an ideal arrangement for more cooperation between Funafuti Kaupule, FOFA (Fishers On Funafuti Association) and TFD through activities under the four key strategies for the FRFSP which are;

Strengthening of the FCA: Empowering of the management of the Funafuti Conservation Area (FCA) so that its potential benefits become a reality – protecting spawning adults, allowing juveniles to grow and promoting spill over of fishes into parts of the lagoon – increasing resilience of the fisheries on Funafuti atoll. This will be achieved through the enhancement of a package of effective smart measures to improve the whole management of the FCA. Development of stronger cooperation arrangement in supporting Funafuti Kaupule will be the primary key to achieve these measures benefitting stronger cooperation in future. Staff will be primarily involved in implementing regular patrols to enforce Monitoring Control Surveillance (MCS) activities in the area, conduct Kaupule office staff capacity building training, regular quarterly review meetings with key stakeholders, further revision of relevant legislation to support enforcement and management, produce public awareness radio programs to support the FCA and conducting further in-water assessments on the status of the resources inside the FCA.

Set Size limits: Limiting the size of fishes that can be taken by fishing to ensure that every fish can breed at least once in all other parts of Funafuti atoll. More study will be conducted to help provide more evidence based information results from scientific assessment fish size at maturity.

More pelagic resources use: Targeting pelagic and offshore fisheries more to reduce some of the pressure on reef fishes. It is envisaged that this strategy will be implemented through a package that will promote these measures. These are: increasing more inshore FADs (Fish Aggregation Devices); increase number of sea safety training and grab bags for our fishermen; improve boats for more efficient fishing offshore to reduce cost of fuel and time accessing pelagic resources more reliably and safely. This will also be accompanied with a trial of different fishing methods such as vertical deep bottom long line fishing, flying fish fishing and others which not only assist in off-setting fishing efforts off the reef but also increase productivity for fishermen on Funafuti. There will be also some work involved on implementing the OFDP (Offshore Fisheries Development Project) as part of this strategy 3 which is implemented under the Operational and Development Division on investigating opportunities to introduce larger more seaworthy fishing boats into Tuvalu to increase the potential benefit of pelagic resources.

Getting everyone on-board: This involves improving information, involvement by the community and state of the ecosystems on which the fisheries depend. There will be some consultation with all island communities on Funafuti to ensure that everyone is involved and supports this plan.

Outer Islands: More routine visits will continue to the outer island through the implementation of metronome trips to the outer islands to provide support to implement activities under the signed MOU for cooperation with each island Kaupule. The visits are to strengthen cooperation between the TFD and Kaupule/Falekaupule and Fishers on each outer island which also result in the development of community based fisheries management plans for each island. Further efforts will continue in 2020 to assist each island Kaupule to implement these fisheries management plans. Visits will be conducted quarterly to all islands to check on status of our IDCs (Island Data Collectors) on each island. The Metronome trips will also be an opportunity for IDCs refresher training, aiming to assess the progress of our data collection program on all islands. Special efforts will also focus on implementing assistance to some islands to initiate community based small scale aquaculture trials.

Resources assessment and monitoring: Staff will be dedicated to execute priority resources assessment and on-going monitoring of fisheries resources and related issues. These includes on-going Creel surveys on islands, Fish export, Water Quality assessment, Ciguatera Fish Poisoning, canoe/boat survey, fish stock assessment and socio-economic assessments. Some of these assessments have been incorporated as part of the metronome program which will be implemented on islands. There will be two new studies that will be introduced for the first time in Tuvalu in 2020. These studies assist to expand our scope in gathering more information on ensuring proper management and use of inshore fishery resources of Funafuti. These are the (i) fish maturity size study which will involve looking at determining the size limit for all key commercial reef fish species and the second study (ii) is the spawning aggregation study which will focus on exploring fish aggregation sites on Funafuti. Both studies will help provide more scientific evidence to determine the size limitation on length of target commercial fish species and also identify potential important spawning sites which may require special management measures to support resilience of our inshore fishery on Funafuti. SPC will also assist us to develop our national sea cucumber management plan.

Oceanic Fisheries Division

Matelina Stuart  Oceanic  , , , , , , ,

The Oceanic division serves two key functions: Managing fishing access, through licensing of foreign tuna fishing vessels and collection of data on their operations; and the Policing of our fisheries waters (EEZ) to prevent and deter unlicensed fishing and ensure compliance by licensed vessels with the terms and conditions of their fishing licenses.

The division comprises of two sub-divisions: 1) Licensing and Information, and 2) Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS). As the name implies, the former deals with issuance of fishing license whereas the latter being responsible for the policing of our waters against illegal, unregulated and unreported fisheries activities. In 2020 the Division will transition to a new structure with four work groups: Licensing (including data management); Enforcement and Compliance; VMS and VDS management; and the Observer Programme. The titles of these groups, each headed by a senior fisheries officer, are self-explanatory.

In line with the first & second objectives of the Fisheries Department’s New Corporate Plan 2020-2023, the division will focus its work programme on following activities:

  • Enhancing MCS of foreign fishing vessels’ (FFV) activities in Tuvalu’s Fishery waters;
  • Licensing of PS, LL, P&L, Carriers and Bunkers;
  • Improving the management of the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS);
  • Implementing the PNA LL Vessel Day Scheme (LL VDS);
  • Continue to make improvements to the Observer program;
  • Implementing e-reporting by Observers;
  • Collecting and disseminating tuna data to SPC and WCPFC;
  • Fulfilling Tuvalu’s obligations under relevant international and regional fisheries treaties to which Tuvalu is a party;
  • Strengthening human resources through attending internal and external capacity building training courses to enhance staff’s capacity;
  • Providing technical training and awareness programme to all stakeholders involved in MCS work.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) continues to exist in the Pacific Ocean. A recent study suggests that IUU is driven largely by licensed vessels and relates to misreporting, non-reporting and under reporting. Hence the focus will be on improving compliance amongst all licensed vessels, while still deterring illegal fishing the EEZ.

Enforcement and Compliance activities require close collaboration with the Maritime Wing of the Tuvalu Police Department, the Attorney-General’s Office and other government agencies involved in maritime law enforcement. With the new Guardian-Class Patrol Boat from Australia’s Defence Program and with the FFA aerial surveillance program, together with the donor funding at our disposal, there is an opportunity to increase coverage of surface patrol operations in the EEZ to deter IUU activities.

The Tuvalu National Observer Programme currently has about eighty observers which is considered the optimal size. There has been a growing demand for Tuvaluan observers in recent times, thus the challenge is to maintain this positive trend. With the large number of observers, a Technical Advisor is strongly desired to provide advice and suggestions to the observer coordinator in managing the observer program effectively. The recruitment process has been completed and the TA is expected to come on board early in 2020.

One of the key priority activities for the Oceanic Fisheries Division is the hosting of the PNA Observer Agency Workshop and the Regional Observer Coordinator Workshop (ROCW) 2020 in early February. Several other activities, including participation in regional Surveillance operations, support to regional aerial surveillance operations and over-flights, and engagement in ship-rider programmes operated by QUAD (US, NZ, AUS & FR) Navy or Coastguard vessels will be carried out opportunistically but cannot be included in the work programme as dates are unknown at this stage.

Moreover, most of the MCS Division’s activities are ongoing or routine, such as observer deployment, observer data scanning, boarding and inspection of transshipment vessels, transhipment reconciling, VMS monitoring, VDS monitoring etc. However, a number of milestone tasks for 2020 are identified below.

Internal Management

Matelina Stuart  Admin  

The TFD work programme in 2018 will continue to focus on strengthening of the Department’s internal management and coordination arrangements and just like in 2017, it will be done primarily through monthly meetings of the internal Senior Management Committee (SMC). the SMC was formalized in 2015 compromising the Director, Deputy Director, Legal Officer, Fisheries Economist, Information Officer, PFO Oceanic, PFO Coastal, PFO Operations & Development, and Technical Advisers. The SMC will continue to meet approximately monthly and will review the implementation of the Work Programme   based on the reports to be provided by each member prior to each meeting. Quarterly meetings of all TFD staff will also be held to discuss the implemented activities, as well as professional and social issues within the department.

The SMC committee also oversees the use of funding from the two donor-funded programmes mentioned above (TFSP) and (PROP). The committee is expected to meet quarterly to review programme plans, activities, expenditure and reports. The NAPA II and R2R projects have their own governing Boards but would benefit from the technical advice and coordination function of a SMC focusing on their fisheries components, which are significant (more than half the project budget in each case). In 2016, it was observed that none other than SMC members attended the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) meetings, therefore SMC members decided that the same committee will also look after these projects. In order to ensure full coordination,and also minimize the number of meetings to be held, SMC will include these project items in their monthly meetings to review the implementation of the work program relating to Fisheries. Updates from these projects will have to come through their Fisheries counterparts; which are the Coastal Fisheries and Operation and Development Sections.

Over the longer term it is expected that the PAC will evolve into a broader Fisheries Advisory Committee, comprising representatives of all fishery sector stakeholder, as recommended by a number of previous advisory missions to Tuvalu, and also stipulated in Tuvalu’s Tuna Fishery Management and Development Plan.

2018 will see the introduction of improved travel reporting, under which TFD staff will be required to submit mission reports and, where appropriate, make presentations on the results of their travel at TFD seminars. The first of these seminars took place as a pilot exercise in 2014 and will strengthen in 2018 once everyone moves in to the new office building.

The Fisheries Department promotes an active social life, both for the enjoyment of staff and to help maintain a cohesive social environment. The Department’s Social Committee organised regular sporting activities, musical events and social functions, and participates in inter-departmental and other competitions. In future it is planned to introduce additional activities, such as canoe racing and fishing competitions. Some of these will be open to public participation, in order to better promote the Department’s activities among the broader community.