Fisheries officials from the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) countries attending the Pacific-Community-SPC‘s 15th Heads of Fisheries Meeting in Noumea, New Caledonia met with the MSG Secretariat Director General, Leonard Louma.
DG Louma took advantage of their attendance and convened an ad hoc meeting to seek guidance on how best to implement the MSG 2015-2024 Inshore Fisheries Roadmap, against the backdrop of the efforts undertaken under SPC’s Noumea Strategy – “A New Song for Coastal Fisheries”.
While reminding them of MSG’s own Inshore Fisheries Roadmap, DG Louma said that, in many respects, it mirrored the Noumea Strategy and therefore important to keep in mind during conversations surrounding the SPC Noumea Strategy and other fisheries matters.
“The MSG Secretariat will not duplicate anything that the SPC intends to do under its New Song but would want to identify synergies so efforts under the MSG Roadmap complement and add value to the management and development of the Inshore/Coastal Fisheries in MSG countries.
“I would also like to leverage the technical expertise and scientific data existent within the SPC to lend credibility to our fisheries efforts in MSG,” DG Louma emphasised.
DG Louma sought the views of the officials on his intention to revive the operations of the MSG Fisheries Technical Committee (FTC) and the MSG Fisheries Working Group (FWG), including the recruitment of a fisheries officer to the MSG Secretariat. The officer is earmarked to coordinate work in the Fisheries sector, but with particular emphasis on implementation of the Inshore Fisheries Roadmap and to ensure a more integrated approach amongst MSG members, in the responsible management and sustainable development of the fisheries sector.
The meeting agreed that there was a great need and urgency to have the FTEC and FWG operational again to guide the Secretariat’s work in the fisheries sector. A meeting of both these bodies will be convened before the end of this year.
The intention of the MSG Secretariat to appoint a Fisheries Officer was supported and the Director General was encouraged to fill the position as soon as possible to ensure better coordination of efforts by the Secretariat amongst the membership.
Proposals were made by the officials with particular focus on markets, joint certification, emphasis on Community Based Management of inshore/coastal fisheries, sustainable development of aquaculture and mariculture for food security, income and to ease pressures on wild stocks, improved cross border trade between MSG countries and possible joint management of BDM and Albacore.
The Director General expressed appreciation to the MSG Fisheries officials for the opportunity to meet and thanked them for the various proposals advanced to assist guide the Secretariat in its efforts to implement the MSG Inshore Fisheries Roadmap.
Source: MSG Secretariat,Port Vila.
