The Chilean Navy has bolstered patrol operations against illegal fishing in the South Pacific region and keeping track of fishing vessels crossing into the South Atlantic. Normally operations are the task of naval surface vessels and air surveillance, but last week it took the unusual step of deploying a Scorpene-class attack submarine on a fisheries-enforcement patrol in the Juan Fernandez Archipelago and further south.
Last month the British Forces in South Atlantic Islands, BFSAI, stationed in Mount Pleasant Complex, MPC, were involved in the operation COLDSTARE as part of a routine maritime patrol in support of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands' rich fisheries resources.
Last week, on 15 August, the UK launched a new maritime strategy that sets out how the UK will enhance its capabilities in technology, innovation, and cyber security.
The Blue Belt Program has launched a comprehensive online training platform for the UK Overseas Territories. This will provide training and development of skills across a wide range of marine management themes, free of charge.
The following piece by Gidget Fuentes in USNI News offers an account of the mission of USCGC (WMSL/758) Stone, fresh from Shipyard and Quarantine, and which departed Mississippi on 22 December for Southern Atlantic Patrol:
Argentine specialized media is reporting that OPRA, a regional cooperation agreement, Organization for the Protection of Fisheries Resources in the South Atlantic has signed an accord with their Pacific counterpart, Calamasur, which is a Committee for the Sustainable Management of the giant squid in the South Pacific.
Meeting for the first time in Latin America, the World Trade Organization’s 11th Ministerial Conference will take place in Buenos Aires from 10-13 December. Central to this year’s talks will be an international deal to curb harmful fishing subsidies. These are government payments or tax breaks that contribute to overcapacity, overfishing and illegal fishing (IUU) globally.
By Matthew Offord MP for Hendon - UK leadership on ocean conservation has won international acclaim. The landmark Blue Belt policy to work with the UK Overseas Territories to “create the largest marine sanctuaries anywhere in the world” has only furthered this standing, with commitments to create large protected areas around Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha in 2019 and 2020 respectively already widely welcomed.
The Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, an international treaty aimed at stopping rogue fishing practices, gives the world all the instruments necessary to achieve our goal, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said.
According to reports in the Spanish press, the case against Vidal Armadores, the beneficial owners of a fleet of vessels operating at various times fishing for toothfish in the Southern Ocean collapsed on a point of law.