External Meetings

Meetings attended by SPRFMO Secretariat staff and officials during 2025:

SIOFA - SPRFMO (Wellington, NZ, 3-5 November 2025): At the request of the SIOFA Secretariat, the SPRFMO Secretariat hosted the SIOFA Compliance Officer over 2 1/2 days as part of a broader SIOFA scoping exercise into the practical, operational, and policy considerations/aspects to set up, operationalization, and manage a VMS program within a RFMO setting (including operational tasks, issue and data management, Member engagement/feedback, Service Provider interaction, and annual reporting).
Deep-sea Fisheries Cross-sectoral Interactions (Rome, Italy, 24–26 September 2025): The Executive Secretary participated in a workshop of the Common Oceans Deep-sea Fisheries Project of the FAO, focused on cross-sectoral interactions with deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The workshop brought together representatives from the fisheries, conservation, and deep-sea mining sectors, including Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), the ISA, FAO, and civil society organizations. Participants examined a range of scenarios to identify technical and governance challenges related to interactions between deep-sea fisheries and other sectors, building on the report on cross-sectoral impacts on deep-sea fisheries in the high seas. The Executive Secretary delivered a presentation on lessons learned from the SPRFMO/ACAP Memoranda of Understanding as a model for cooperation between sectoral bodies. This and other presentations are available in the Deep-sea Fisheries Technical Forum.
Pan-Pacific Fisheries Compliance Network (PPFCN): The PPFCN is an informal group of RFMO Compliance Officers supported logistically by the IMCS Network to foster better networking among RFMO colleagues in the Pacific. The group convenes virtually for ∼90-minute sessions several times per year for general discussion and exchange on topics of mutual interest. The Compliance Manager is the principal SPRFMO participant, supported by the Data Manager. The 2025 virtual meetings of the PPFCN were held on 6 March and 19 December. Additionally, the first face-to-face meeting of the group was held on 13 June following a TCN meeting in Toyko (organized/funded by the IMCS Network).
Honiara Summit Iumi tugeda delivering on SDG 14.4: Achieving Sustainable Fisheries (Honiara, Solomon Islands; 24–27 February 2025): The Executive Secretary was invited to this meeting and participated as a panelist, providing a regional perspective on the role of Regional Fisheries Bodies in supporting implementation of SDG 14.4. He shared examples from SPRFMO of collaborative regional solutions to complex challenges. The 2025 Honiara Summit focused on meaningful action and innovation towards achieving SDG 14: Life Below Water, with a dedicated focus on the conservation and sustainable use of ocean, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. The Summit was jointly hosted by the Government of Solomon Islands and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) in close collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. The meeting, global by design, had a particular focus on fishery stocks from the Pacific Ocean, a region that provides 58% of all global marine catches (2022 data).

For information about the external meetings attended by staff and officials in previous years, please check the list below: