Fiji is an archipelagic nation comprising about 322 islands with a total land area of 18 272 km2 and a surrounding EEZ of about 1.3 million km2. The group includes two large high islands, several medium-sized high islands, and numerous small islands and atolls. Most of the islands are surrounded by fringing and barrier coral reefs. Much of Fiji's coastal waters occur off the main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu and the islands of the Mamanuca and Yasawa groups. Fiji's capital and main urban area is the city of Suva on the southeast of Viti Levu.
According to Fisheries Department (2002), in 2001 there were 830 vessels participating in the artisanal fisheries: 30 unpowered, 348 outboard powered, 380 inboard powered, and 72 skiffs. These vessels had a total of 2 443 crew. According to a recent study by the Forum Fisheries Agency, in December 2002 the locally-based offshore tuna fleet consisted of 96 longliners and one pole/line vessel, employing a total of 893 crew.
Important features of Fiji relevant to sea safety include:
High incidence of cyclones in the November to April period.
Significant amount of inter-island transport on small boats, many of which also serve as fishing vessels.
Two very different fishing fleets (offshore tuna, inshore artisanal) which are associated with very different sea safety issues.
Substantial SAR assets including the Navy and domestic airlines.
According to the Fiji Navy, small boat activities account for about 95 percent of the sea safety incident reports and characteristically involve mechanical problems; difficulties associated with poor weather, or capsize. On the other hand, the problems of the larger fishing vessels (mainly tuna longliners) usually involve grounding, sinking, or engine problems. The more spectacular disasters (e.g. sinking of the F/V Wasawasa in 1997 with the loss of ten lives) are often the catalyst for greater government intervention in sea safety.
The broad objectives of management interventions in the fisheries sector are suggested in the mission statement of the Fisheries Department: "to provide sustainable management and development of the nation's fishery with the aim to create employment, increase foreign exchange earnings, and improve the standards of the rural people through capture fisheries development and a well-coordinated support service programme".
To achieve the objectives, the government has a variety of management strategies. These include the promotion of fisheries activities which both divert effort away from over-exploited inshore areas and which have favourable business opportunities (tuna fishing, aquaculture), devolution of management responsibilities to coastal communities, a nation-wide system of licensing commercial fishers to fish inshore areas where permitted by local authorities, and control of aspects of coastal commercial and the offshore tuna fisheries by conventional centrally-administered regulations.
In the coastal commercial fisheries, the main management interventions are:
requirement for commercial fishers to be licensed (960 licences were issued in 2000);
size limits (e.g. regulations specify minimum sizes for 19 species of fish);
gear specification (e.g. mesh sizes for nets);
banned fishing methods (e.g. use of explosives);
requirement for an export permit for marine products: The Customs Department, acting as agents for the Fisheries Department, will not authorize the release of an export shipment of fishery products without an export permit from the Fisheries Department;
bans on the export of certain species: regulations ban the export of Tridacna derasa, T. squamosa, T. maxima, Holothuria scabra;
requirement for approval from traditional authorities before a licence is granted to an outsider for fishing in any of the 406 areas under traditional jurisdiction;
diversion of commercial fishing effort to offshore areas by the use of fish aggregation devices (FADs) to utilize the abundant offshore tuna resources;
promotion of commercial aquaculture with the intent of relieving some fishing effort from inshore areas (giant clam) and to re-stock areas which have been over-exploited (bêche de mer), and for alternative sources of income for coastal communities (seaweed);
use of marine protected areas: these are mostly initiatives of NGOs, usually working through the government environment agency.
These management measures for the coastal commercial fisheries are not likely to have much effect on the sea safety situation. Possible exceptions to this are:
some measures may reduce the coastal fisheries opportunities and therefore may encourage some individuals to fish in the less restricted offshore areas;
the use of FADs may cause more small boats to fish offshore. On the other hand, those small boats habitually fishing offshore tend to concentrate their fishing around FADs resulting in a less risky situation.
One of the requirements for obtaining an "outside demarked areas" fishing licence is a vessel inspection which, according to the responsible individual at the Fisheries Department, includes a vessel check to ensure seaworthiness.
For the offshore tuna fisheries, a new tuna management regime commenced in 2002 with the adoption by Cabinet of the Fiji Tuna Development and Management Plan. The "national objectives" of the Plan are to:
address the conservation and management of tuna resources within Fiji waters;
highlight development policies for maximum utilisation of the tuna resources without compromising the long-term economic, political and resource sustainability;
determine the level of sustainable fishing effort, distribution of licences as well as total allowable catch within Fiji's EEZ;
provide policy direction to government towards new areas for development that would increase the economic gains from tuna fishing.
Make recommendations on institutional changes that would ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency within the Fisheries Department;
determine changes to fees paid to government in terms of licensing fees, export permits and processing permits.
Major features of the Plan are:
catch limits (provisionally 15 000 tonnes);
licence limits (presently 90 available);
licence criteria that favour people from Fiji, especially indigenous Fijians;
collection of substantial fees from domestic vessels (presently about US$10 000 for vessel over 20 metres);
development options are also presented in the Plan, including components on awareness programmes and small-scale fisheries training.
Safety does not feature prominently in the Fiji Tuna Development and Management Plan. The only provision regarding this subject in the text is "The Ministry will create a Fisheries Training School to provide training to the fishing industry. At the Fisheries Training School, the Ministry will create a three to four weeks induction course for people wishing to enter the tuna fishery as a crewman, so they can gain the basic skills needed for this work, plus gain the required sea safety certificate". In the Plan's development options section, the awareness programmes seem to be limited to "reduce the risks to communities associated with the problems of alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS and STIs". The Plan's section on small-scale tuna fisheries training does not specifically mention safety training.
For tuna fishery management in general, there are safety-oriented management interventions by the Fisheries Department. The major measure is the requirement that for a vessel to obtain a tuna fishing licence from the Fisheries Department, they must have a safety certificate from the Fiji Islands Marine Safety Administration (FIMSA). This certificate covers the hull, engine, and safety equipment.
From the above, it can be seen that the concept of including safety in fisheries management is not prominent in Fiji. Although there does not appear to be major objections to doing so, the advantages of specifying safety as one of the management objectives are not widely appreciated. One possible difficulty is that the legal authority for fisheries management in the country, the Fisheries Act, is oriented to "regulating matters relating to the conservation, protection and maintenance of a stock of fish".
Several government agencies in Fiji have sea safety programmes, including the Fisheries Department, the Fiji Islands Marine Safety Administration (FIMSA), and the Fiji Navy.
The Fisheries Department's recent involvement in sea safety has consisted of:
enforcing the requirement that for a vessel to obtain a tuna fishing licence there must be a safety certificate from FIMSA;
enforcing the requirement that to obtain an "outside demarked areas" fishing licence, there must be a vessel inspection by the district fisheries licensing officer;
cooperating with FIMSA with a view to improving sea safety legislation;
distributing SPC sea safety materials;
the 18 fisheries stations periodically undertaking fisheries extension sessions which occasionally have some safety component;
in 1993 to 1995 the Fisheries Department had a fish quality control project in which an extension team travelled to rural villages. A small sea safety component was attached to the project and took advantage of the generator and video set to show safety videos.
According to staff of FIMSA, the sea safety involvement of the agency consists of:
work specified under the Marine Act and subsidiary legislation: e.g. issuing safety certificates and checking vessels before they depart for fishing. A change in the Marine Act in 1999 so that fishing vessels, previously excluded from the safety provisions of the Act, became included;
radio broadcasts in Fijian on sea safety on Sunday mornings;
writing articles in Fijian for the government publication "Na Mata": e.g. problems of fibreglass boats in the April - June 2002 issue;
attendance at district and provincial meetings to disseminate material information on sea safety;
convening meetings with builders of boats less than ten metres to formulate safety standards.
The Fiji Navy's involvement in sea safety is related to both search and rescue and safety awareness:
participation of Navy officers in television and radio shows.
Not much information is available on the effectiveness of the above sea safety initiatives. Several individuals interviewed during the survey in Fiji have indicated that there seems to be a greater awareness of safety issues and a noticeable increase in the number of small vessels carrying at least some safety gear (including mobile telephones). It is not clear what was responsible, but the general feeling was that the awareness programmes were having an effect.
The inclusion of fishing vessels in safety provisions of the Marine Act and subsequent strict enforcement of those and other safety regulations applicable to fishing vessels has occurred. Although the impact on safety is uncertain, the fishing fleet operators are quick to point out irregularities in the system of checking fishing boats prior to departure from port.
The SPC sea safety materials, except for the videos, are not widely known in the Suva-based fisheries industry, the Navy, and FIMSA. When the videos can be shown in remote villages, they are well-received. It appears that potential channels of distribution to remote villages (Navy and FIMSA) for the printed materials are not being utilized.
Possible improvements to sea safety projects include:
greater cooperation and coordination between the Fisheries Department, Navy, and FIMSA in safety promotion efforts. Ironically, senior staff in the three agencies appeared unaware of the other's awareness projects;
distributing more safety materials to remote villages by taking advantage of the visits of the three agencies to those areas;
greater use of radio in safety awareness programmes;
greater assertiveness of fishing industry representation on the Marine Board to improve the effectiveness/relevancy of safety promotion efforts, especially the system of checking fishing boats prior to departure.
Chapman (2002) made recommendations about sea safety initiatives for tuna vessels in Fiji. He stated:
The "Skipjack Project" implemented by Fisheries off Suva provided 36 skiffs and outboards to local fishers, with the fishers encouraged to fish offshore around the FADs. No safety equipment or sea safety training was provided to any of the fishers as part of this project. This should be changed for any future project, with the boat and outboard not only provided with fishing equipment, but also sea safety equipment.[12]
Having sea safety equipment on board a small-scale fishing vessel is no good if no one knows how to use it. Therefore the Fisheries Division, through their Extension Section, should run a sea safety awareness campaign including the use of the equipment, for all small-scale fishers, not just those in the future that they will be assisting into new boats. SPC has materials that could be used as part of the awareness campaign. Coupled with this should be regulations, under either the Fisheries or Marine Legislation, that require that the sea safety equipment be carried on board the boat at all times.
Staff of FIMSA indicates that they are commencing a project to record sea safety incidents, but the system is not yet operational. Some information on maritime accidents can be found in FIMSA's annual report, but this is largely oriented to the results of the work of marine investigators for large ships.
The Navy's Maritime Surveillance Centre receives sea accident reports from all government agencies. It produces various summaries of incidents which are defined as reports reaching MSC causing SAR action: patrol boat search, aircraft search, or coordination of efforts. Summary data for the past 13 years is tabled below:
Year |
Incidents |
Lives lost |
Cost |
1990 |
45 |
7 |
22 549 |
1991 |
51 |
1 |
39 200 |
1992 |
43 |
14 |
112 201 |
1993 |
52 |
10 |
42 042 |
1994 |
74 |
5 |
28 956 |
1995 |
54 |
23 |
39 027 |
1996 |
41 |
7 |
38 267 |
1997 |
65 |
17 |
27 141 |
1998 |
67 |
21 |
36 580 |
1999 |
51 |
9 |
20 385 |
2000 |
67 |
21 |
118 947 |
2001 |
62 |
8 |
35 400 |
2002 |
51 |
13 |
130 000 |
For each year, more detailed data with respect to type of incident is available. Information for the year 2002 is shown below.
Month |
Overdue |
Distress |
Drowning |
Medevac |
Grounding |
Capsize |
Engine breakdown |
EPIRB |
Total |
Jan. |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
3 |
Feb. |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
Mar. |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 |
Apr. |
5 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
6 |
May |
3 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
6 |
June |
|
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
July |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
4 |
|
|
1 |
8 |
Aug. |
5 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
7 |
Sept. |
2 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
4 |
Oct. |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
3 |
Nov. |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
2 |
6 |
Dec. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 |
Total |
28 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
51 |
It was not possible to obtain additional data on each incident during the short period of the Fiji survey, but as the information exists at the Maritime Surveillance Centre, it could conceivably be extracted and summarized. Discussions with the Fiji Navy's Maritime Commander indicate:
about 70 to 80 percent of the incidents on the table involve fishing operations;
of these accidents that involve fishing operations, about five percent concern the relative large offshore tuna longliners, with the remainder being small coastal craft;
as many vessels are "fishing boats one day, transport boats the next day", the distinction between sea accidents related to fishing and to other types of activities is not clear.
The Fiji Times occasionally contains summaries on "boating accidents". For example, on 23 June 1995 a summary of the 15 accidents to have occurred January to June of that year was given in a feature article on sea disasters.
Although the Navy appears to be doing an important job in collecting and summarizing the SAR statistics, it is unclear if the other agencies involved (FIMSA, Fisheries Department) are analysing and/or utilizing the data produced by the Navy. Discussions with a limited number of staff in those agencies did not reveal that much use was made of the Navy data. More time is needed to explore this subject in order to make substantive conclusions on sea safety accident data in Fiji.
Sea safety is not covered in the Fisheries Act or subsidiary legislation. This situation is likely to have arisen because of the limited scope of the legal framework in the fisheries sector; the laws/regulations are oriented to "regulating matters relating to the conservation, protection and maintenance of a stock of fish".
In proposed legislation (Fisheries Management Bill 2002) there is some provision for sea safety. It is stated: "The operator of each licensed vessel shall be subject to and ensure compliance with the following licence terms and conditions....... [including] compliance with all laws of Fiji, in particular laws relating to navigational standards and the safety of vessels at sea."
Most of the legislation dealing with sea safety in Fiji is found in the Marine Act 1986, the Marine Regulations 1990, and the Marine (STCW) Regulations 2001.
The Marine Act 1986 has a sea safety section (Part IV) but fishing vessels and vessel less than ten metres were specifically excluded. In 1999 an amendment to the act was made eliminating the exclusion for fishing vessels. Important provisions of the Act for sea safety include:
requirement for vessels to be checked for "danger" prior to departure for sea;
authority for FIMSA to issue a safety certificate and requirement for vessels to possess a valid safety certificate;
authority for Ministry to (a) exempt fishing vessels from the safety section (Part IV) of the Act, and (b) make regulations for vessels under ten metres.
The Marine Regulations 1990 have several sections applicable to fisheries-related sea safety:
declaration by the Minister that the safety and seamen provisions of the Act (Parts IV and V) apply to fishing vessels of ten metres or more;
creates a specific offence for fishing vessels that proceed to sea with fewer qualified seamen than prescribed by a regulation;
establishes requirements (Fiji Small Craft Code) for commercial vessels under ten metres, including qualifications for seamen, survey certificate, construction and safety equipment. The regulation creating the Code give the applicability as "commercial vessels less than ten metres in length" whereas the actual code text states "vessels of ten metres in length trading commercially".
The applicability of the Marine (STCW) Regulations 2001 includes Fiji vessels ("a vessel which is registered or licensed in Fiji"), seafarers employed on Fiji vessels, and owners and masters of Fiji vessels. Its main relevancy to sea safety issues in Fiji concerns the manning requirements. The regulations specify the fishing certificates required by vessel size and by distance offshore of operation (unlimited, near-coastal, territorial, and inshore). The requirements for the various fishing certificates are also stipulated with respect to minimum age, prerequisite certificate, required sea service, course of study, other certificates required, and examination.
The authority to inspect fishing vessels is given by the Marine Act to the Director of Marine, which is presently the senior officer in the Fiji Islands Maritime Safety Administration.
With respect to enforcement of sea safety legislation, there are several important issues:
For commercial fishing vessels under ten metres, the requirements are so extensive (the Small Craft Code is 67 pages in length) and the requirements so unreasonable (for example, a seven metres fibreglass fishing boat requires a gangway, life raft, barometer, six hawsers). In practical terms, the requirements are ignored by the fishing fleets and enforcement is irrelevant.
On larger vessels, the requirement for a safety certificate is effectively enforced by the Fisheries Department's policy of "no safety certificate, no fishing licence".
The Navy quickly points out that the effectiveness of sea safety legislation could be improved if they are allowed to enforce at sea rather than just "watch vessels sink". The Marine Act gives enforcement authority to "shipping inspectors" but the Navy has not been delegated this authority. From the FIMSA perspective, giving the Navy enforcement powers is in appropriate as it would involve the military in domestic law enforcement.
As most of the serious sea accidents in Fiji are associated with small fishing vessels, it is important to reform the unrealistic sea safety requirements for these craft.
FAO's major contribution to fishing vessel design in Fiji was the 8.6 metres inboard diesel (FIJ-5). Originally designed for Samoa, it was modified for use in Fiji in the mid-1980s and about 250 have been built at the Fisheries Division boatyard in Lami in conjunction with a fisheries development programme. That initiative was reviewed by FAO in May of 1991. The building of the FIJ-5 ceased in June of 1993 which, according to Fisheries Division (1994), was due to "the donor country Japan had ceased the supply of marine diesel engines".
FAO also designed the 6.4 metres inboard diesel vessel. Only three have been built at the Fisheries Division boatyard.
The above 6.4 metres vessel was designed for use with a 7.5 metres "emergency and auxiliary sail". In the late 1980s FAO donated a sail/motor canoe to a community for sail demonstration purposes. In the early 1990s FAO supplied a skiff emergency sail rig to the Navy so that it could be demonstrated to remote villages during patrols. With the exception of traditional sailing craft in an isolated part of the country (southern Lau) and yachts, there is little, if any, use of sail by fishing operations in Fiji.
There are a few naval architects in Fiji. In the past they have produced designs for tuna vessels (pole/line, longline) which have been built in one large and a few small boatyards around Suva. For small fishing vessels, there are three fibreglass and two aluminium boatbuilders located in the Suva area. A few small yards around the country produce wooden flat-bottom skiffs.
The vast majority of new boats in the country are outboards-powered fibreglass skiffs of about seven metres in length. According to the Navy, these vessels are responsible for most of the SAR incidents. Because it is likely that their use in Fiji will continue to expand, sea safety in Fiji will be closely associated with these vessels in the future. In this regard, two important issues are:
the legal safety requirements for these vessels (Small Craft Code, Section 8.5 above) are so inappropriate that they are meaningless and universally ignored;
there are major concerns over the design and quality of construction of fibreglass (and to a lesser extent aluminium) skiffs.
Recently FIMSA has brought together the fibreglass/aluminium boatbuilders of Fiji in an attempt to obtain their input prior to establishing mandatory skiff construction standards. It appears that these discussions could benefit considerably from global experience in attempts to improve skiff safety through construction standards. An FAO contribution in this area could have considerable impact in many of the Pacific Island countries outside Fiji, as these skiffs are quite numerous in many parts of the region.
The major issues in improving sea safety in Fiji appear to be:
Getting the awareness message to isolated villages.
Some sea safety lessons-learned in Fiji:
A major sea disaster may be required to generate political will to improve sea safety.
For the type of small fishing vessels used in Fiji sea safety awareness programmes are likely to have greater impact than enforcement of inappropriate legislation.
Radio appears to offer the greatest opportunity for sensitizing remote villages to sea safety issues, and is certainly better than dependence on non-existent distribution channels of some of the government agencies involved in sea safety.
As the use of fibreglass skiffs is likely to grow in Fiji and the region, more attention should be focused on appropriate construction standards.
[12] According
to the Acting Director of Fisheries, this has been recently
addressed. [13] In early 2003 one US dollar was about two Fijian dollars. The SAR cost is calculated on the basis that (a) a search by the patrol boat at 15 knots would use 346 litres per hour, (b) fuel costs F$.79 per litre, (c) food rations and a 30 percent charge to cover miscellaneous expenses is added to the fuel costs to determine the total cost of each operation. |