MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 1 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
Joint steering committee combined MPI/MFAT The programme is Fisheries Management and Development focussed – MCS and Enforcement as we know exists to support the goals of FM Programme has largely ‘hinged’ on the wide acceptance and ‘take up’ of MCS and Enforcement. Now we might be a NZ programme BUT we are not trying to turn the Pacific in to NZ – we are very much focussed on collaborative work with each PIC MCS team and regional agencies. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 2 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
Difficult to cover all aspects of Pacific fisheries environment in this brief discussion. Premise any discussion on Pacific by stating that although they are often grouped together the Pacific is made up of independent sovereign states, each with unique fisheries needs and issues, particularly when costal fisheries issues are incorporated. But Pacific fisheries resources are a major contributor to food security and immediate income earning opportunities for PIC’s. Fisheries are culturally important with fishing synonymous with Pacific communities. WCPFC RFMO. Managing fisheries cam be complex and resource intensive process anyway but doing so on a regional basis adds another level of complexity to this. This results in Pacific fisheries staff balancing large amounts of travel for regional responsibilities with other core tasks. But there is good support being provided by regional organisations, including wide-ranging support from FFA in a large number of areas including MCS, SPC, principally fisheries management and science, and also support through the WCPFC compliance team. The Pacific is blessed with some incredibly capable staff, but historically support and resources did filter down through administrations to frontline MCS staff. Technology is changing and improving quickly and the Pacific is no different. We have heard from Hugh Walton (FFA) there is good progress in the Pacific with EM and ER. All of these technological advances alter MCS skills and requirements. Similarly, as noted in the presentation by Matua Shane Jones, the PIF leaders announcement last year a commitment to transition to catch based management. As and when this progress this will greatly alter the MCS requirements within the Pacific and Pacific fisheries administrations. In summary this all results in small fisheries teams performing important roles with extensive demands… MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 3 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
This is difficult to summarise in a few slides but… Pacific MCS works across – Coastal gathering, through artisanal and subsistence fishing and small scale commercial operations. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 4 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
And also large scale purse seine, longline, transhipment, carrier and bunker vessels. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 5 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
And markets supplying locally and issues around the illegal export of high value coastal fish stocks such as Sea cucumber or Beche de mer. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 6 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
Pete has an education background before coming to fisheries enforcement. I’m sure the problem here is not new. Often administrations train people and they move on. But if we don’t make any effort to train staff they remain ill equipped to do their job. Our programme puts effort in to key areas to develop MCS skill competence enhancement. Build and enhance identified “good aspects” and address short comings. E.g. team work. Pacific people do teamwork amazingly. As we all know key aspect of MCS is having a team that works well together. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 7 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
Difficult to initiate off my ‘own bat’ • First year (2010) difficult to obtain traction within PICs and region! Difficult to initiate off my ‘own bat’ • Switched focus to utilise existing relationships between MCS&E practitioners • Relationship and alignment with FFA was vital to ensuring best placement of support and gaining traction in the Pacific. • Identified the simple things that had long been overlooked • Field uniforms, basic equipment, practical training, skill development opportunities • Quickly started to develop and then went boom!!!! Very Busy MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 8 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 9 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 10 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 11 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
Double the resources, complimentary skills but distinct MCS focus areas/experience. Importance of building the foundation for robust MCS practices in the PIC’s. Offending behaviour is not driven solely by a simple choice between costs and benefits of that offending. Ensuring an adequate deterrent is still important factor but this is not always financial and there is also a growing body of literature on the importance of legitimacy of the enforcement/monitoring agency and social and cultural norms and the effect this also has on compliance decisions. Confidence is a vital part of this, both confidence in the MCS staff in the roles they are performing and confidence in industry or communities that MCS staff are working with So we need to remember what we are trying to achieve as MCS practitioners, changing non compliant behaviour. So problem identification and problem definition is key to this. We have all seen compliance actions treat symptoms not cause of non compliance. These don’t change drivers of non compliance. Holistic approach (legislation, managerial/political support, relationships). Clever, smart, capable people that know their countries, communities and fishers issues. There are often established societal responses and systems in place to deal with non compliance already… So if they are successful we work with these… Alignment of support with good work being undertaken by regional organisations Alignment with New Zealand’s patrol activity in the Pacific is important and presents a great capability development opportunity. Huge missed opportunity if these are not aligned. Programme assured for at least another 5 years (2014 – 2019), enabled a longer term approach – be more strategic… MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 12 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
Operational opportunity to apply skills at conclusion of training/workshops is an important component of what we do… Collaborative approach, opportunities for participants to discuss and apply ideas. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 13 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 14 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
A further example of cooperation across the region Joint FFA/MPI supported initiative Geared around competent leadership, supported by a mix of skills that facilitated a robust investigative processes We worked collaboratively with Fiji Investigations team to develop SOP’s and have followed up with direct in country mentoring and targeted attachments in NZ. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 15 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
We cover operational level – Fisheries Inspection / Investigation / Information collection and Analysis Our focus is to put those skills and experience to use at an operational level within PIC fisheries administrations What we are doing is a little different! – Historically Fisheries Managers attended numerous meetings and spoke to other fisheries managers at a high level Very little transpired ‘operationally’ from this! Especially in MCS&E Operational MCS&E has long been the ‘poor cousin’ to Policy / Science / ?? Science (providing advice) often comfortable designing the rules but uncomfortable when it comes to enforcing them!! MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 16 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
We identify and target assistance to need, but this is a collaborative process – we are not trying to establish NZ in Pacific and it needs to compliment not duplicate regional support being provided Understand environment, people and risks, and for this we need to LISTEN Had we not built the relationships we would have no traction… Pacific recognise the person more than the position. A lot of requirements on MCS staff in Pacific. Working in the Pacific you need to deliver or lose credibility. A huge factor in building the relationships. Relationships can’t be built without continuity. The capability of the people we work with in the Pacific has been talked about a lot during this presentation but it can’t be overstated. The workforce is very intelligent and capable, it is about increasing MCS skills and growing the confidence within the teams. We have a Manager that understands the Pacific and, being previously an operational MCS officer himself, understands operational environment. This facilitates and supports progress rather than placing roadblocks. MPI Capability Development in Pacific Fisheries 17 - Pete Southen and Damian Johnson
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