External Meetings

Meetings attended by SPRFMO Secretariat staff and officials

2023

International Monitoring Control and Surveillance Network (IMCS) Briefing: The IMCS Network (Chair Gary Orr, NZ MPI and the Secretariat staff) held their planning meetings in NZ. Following which, they offered an update to relevant interested parties on the upcoming IMCS Network activities (including the upcoming GFETW in Halifax) as well as an overview of the Joint Analytical Cell (JAC) initiative. The Executive Secretary and the Compliance Manager attended the meeting on 28 April 2023 at the NZ MPI offices in Wellington.
Pan-Pacific Fisheries Compliance Network (PPFCN): The PPFCN is an informal group of RFMO Compliance Officers supported by the International Monitoring, Control, Surveillance (IMCS) Network that was formed late in 2020. An Operational Framework providing guidance for the group has been established. To help foster better networking between RFMO colleagues in the Pacific, the group convenes virtually for short sessions 3-4 times per year. The Compliance Manager is the principal SPRFMO participant (and is also the current Chairperson of the PPFCN). For 2023, a virtual meeting was convened 19 April. A face-to-face catch up is planned on the margins of the GFETW in July for those attending and another virtual meeting planned for Oct/Nov period.
International Fisheries Observer and Monitoring Conference (IFOMC): The Data and Compliance Managers attended the 10th IFOMC held in Hobart, Australia from 6-10 March 2023. This conference brought together participants from around the globe to discuss aspects of monitoring fisheries, including: fisheries observers, electronic monitoring and reporting technologies, safety at-sea, compliance and law enforcement, fishery certifications, etc. Dr Tiffany Vidal presented on International collaboration to standardise high seas monitoring; the extended abstract is available here. This conference was extremely valuable from a science, data, and compliance perspective. During and outside of the conference sessions SPRFMO participants were able to interact with colleagues and participants from CCAMLR, WCPFC, NPFC, NOAA, MRAG, CapMarine, ACAP, tech consulting companies and others to discuss relevant issues and strengthen collaborations. Click for the full Proceedings of the 10th International Fisheries Observer and Monitoring Conference.

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