Fishers Vessel Monitoring System Will Be Mandatory, Eventually

The Fisheries Department says it still intends to require vessel monitoring systems on fishing boats, despite resistance from some fishers. A pilot program for stone crab and shark fishers has been paused so officials can consult further. Officials say international seafood markets are demanding more accountability and traceability. CEO in the Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Conservation, Beverly Wade, explains why.

 

Beverly Wade, CEO, Ministry of Blue Economy and Marine Conservation

“Most people cannot trade in commercial fisheries unless their vessels have a vessel monitoring system on them. The digitization of fisheries data and processes within fisheries have now become a priority for most countries and for management organizations. Why? Because it, it answers several areas for us. One, it allows us to have better monitoring, more effective monitoring. It allows us to be able to track fisheries better, traceability. Markets are now requiring that you now have traceability for fisheries. In fact, the EU markets are one of those markets that we now have to give certification of where your product is being caught from and to certify that. And so authorities, the national authorities are in a better place to do that using VMS. Thirdly, VMS allows us to now be a little bit more effective in the collection of data, of catch data. Countries like Belize and many small-scale fisheries still employs paper-based catch logbooks. They’re not effective. And I would say the last thing is that it provides security for fishers at sea. The devices are used they have a special SOS feature on them that we are trying to integrate in terms of security at sea. We’ve had cases in the past where that SOS button have been used to signal to the coastguard and the authorities that there’s an emergency at sea.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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