Organization Meeting of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Side Event hosted by The Republic of Maldives, “The Role of Technology in Biodiversity Conservation in ABNJ”

It is a pleasure to be here. I would like to thank the Permanent Missions of the Republic of Maldives and Belize for bringing us together in this side-event.

I would like to focus today on the use of one specific technology to monitor individual vessel operations at sea: electronic Monitoring Systems, or EMS.

In the typical application of EMS, cameras, recording video or still images, are deployed in key places of the vessel to allow a view of the fishing operation, including the composition of the catch.

At the end of the trip, the hard drive containing the image data are retrieved and reviewed by government officials to identify possible infractions to national regulations, as well as recording the catch composition for scientific purposes. If required, systems can be updated to provide real-time monitoring.

Even if EMS do not entirely replace the functions of observers-at-sea on board the vessels, the system may offer key advantages over the exclusive use of observers. For example, an observer at-sea can rarely be protected from possible pressure to misreport infractions that could lead to sanctions against the vessel operators.

Similarly, the vessel operators, who can also analyze the image data collected, have evidence of the actions taken by the vessel which can be reviewed independently.

If there is an adequate legal framework, image information collected can be used to prosecute a case of illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing, or can exonerate a legal operator.

EMS are a new technology already in use, especially by developed countries, to promote the conservation of marine biodiversity. We are now working to expand its use, in the context of the Common Oceans ABNJ Tuna Project.

The Common Oceans ABNJ Tuna Project is a global project which started in 2014, supported with a grant from the Global Environmental Environment Fund. It is led by FAO and implemented with almost 20 partners including all tuna Regional Fishery Management Organizations, civil society organizations, intergovernmental organizations and the private sector.

Amongst its activities, this initiative is running pilot projects in Ghana and in Fiji to test the best way to incorporate EMS to the toolbox available to developing countries for combatting IUU fishing.

The aim of the projects is not to test the technology itself, which is well-proven around the world. Rather, the interest was in facilitating the adoption and use of this new technology by developing countries.

This requires the development of an effective process at the national level, so that the information is properly utilized for compliance purposes, and facilitate the effective transfer, adoption and use of this new technology by developing countries.

To make this happen, it is necessary to prepare the institutional and process context at the national level and to give adequate consideration to capacity building needs.

The pilot projects aimed to identify what enabling conditions were needed to implement sustainable electronic monitoring systems in developing countries.

The projects targeted two different types of operations and were led by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), one of our Common Oceans project partners.

In Ghana, the target fleet was the domestic purse-seine fleet of around 15 vessels. In Fiji, 50 longline vessels of their domestic fleet were targeted. Camera arrangements on board were different to accommodate the different type of operations, but in both cases the aim was to have a clear view of the operations and the catch composition.

Teams of land-based government observers were established in both countries to review the images collected for each operation, as the cameras operate 24/7 during the trip. At the end of the review, summary reports would provide information about any possible infraction during the trip, as well as scientific data to verify catch and bycatch composition.

A big contributing factor to the success of the pilot projects was the support from the private sector, in particular, those strongly committed to strengthen the legality of fishing operations.

Specifically, in Ghana, there were concerns about the compliance level of the fleet. In fact, the fleet had received a warning from the European Union that they could face restrictions to import their fishery products into its market unless compliance improved. The strengthening of the compliance process brought about by the EMS application contributed to addressing those concerns.

In another positive outcome, valid for both Fiji and Ghana, vessel owners noted that EMS allowed them to review their operations and identify actions that could lead to better safety-at-sea for the crew and more efficient operations in general.

Although in both Ghana and Fiji, there was agreement that, during the pilot phase, there were not going to be prosecutions on the basis of the image data, the availability of the images also provided government officials with a chance to discuss with vessels operators and skippers possible infractions identified in the video. Therefore, corrective actions could be taken by authorities or by the operators.

The pilot projects are then finalized with the preparation of national business plans that identify lessons learned during their implementation, and propose a plan to ensure continuity of the EMS implementation after the Project is completed.

The business plan for Ghana has been completed and presented to the government and private sector, who supported the findings and indicated its agreement to contribute to the continuation of the EMS.

The business plan for Fiji is still under preparation, but the private sector has already supported the idea of an EMS beyond the life of the Project in 2019.

These pilot experiences, that took place over the four years, showed that strong partnerships involving government, private sector and other stakeholders make it possible to incorporate a new technology such as EMS. In turn, this leads to tangible long-term benefits to all players and improves the sustainability of fishing operations in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), as well as in the exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

Finally, as a larger lesson, we also came to the conclusion that the transfer of new technologies can be done effectively when there is consideration of the context in which the new technology will be deployed. This includes the strengthening of the national institutions involved, key partnerships established, required legal frameworks developed, and building the human resources necessary for the effective operation of the new technology.

Thank you for your attention.