Pacific Fisheries officials, on 21 May, extended a suspension of 100%observer coverage requirements on all purse seiners fishing in the waters of member nations to 31 July. As part of the temporary suspension, vessel monitoring system (VMS) requirements that apply to purse seine vessels during FAD closure periods will also apply to purse seine vessels that are not carrying observers.
Earlier in the COVID-19 crisis, 19 environmental organizations (including Pew, Global Fishing Watch, Greenpeace, and WWF) wrote a letter saying that the move “opens the door” to increased IUU fishing, and highlighted the threat of the suspension of key measures to the recovery and the resilience of fish stocks globally.
MSCount: This is particularly important for the MSC certified fisheries PNA and WPSTA that rely on 100% observer coverage for verification of free sets versus associated sets and to comply with shark finning bans.
