From 1 November 2011, AFMA will be taking a zero tolerance approach to Commonwealth-endorsed commercial fishing vessel operators who fail to have a properly maintained VMS unit operating at all times.
Known as “Operation VMS Crackdown,” the zero tolerance campaign will mean that any boat with a VMS unit that stops reporting could be ordered to stop fishing immediately and return to their home port.
AFMA Operations Branch General Manager, Peter Venslovas, explained, “VMS reporting has been compulsory for all Commonwealth-endorsed fishing boats since 2007. The data obtained from VMS units is used for both compliance and resource management purposes. Under AFMA’s 2011–12 Domestic Compliance Enforcement Policy and Annual Compliance Program we actively monitor VMS units to ensure compliance with this requirement. It means that at any given time we can tell where Commonwealth-endorsed fishing vessels are located and by comparing their logbook data with the VMS data AFMA’s fisheries officers can monitor what they catch and whether any of them are operating illegally.
“AFMA will continue to work with operators to resolve problems with their VMS units and we have a suite of arrangements in place to allow for legitimate problems. Over recent times we have also introduced a number of initiatives to increase VMS compliance. However, despite our best endeavours, AFMA’s analysis of the data indicates that compliance levels are below what we would reasonably expect.
“During Operation VMS Crackdown, AFMA will continue the standard practice of notifying operators when a unit stops reporting. If the fault is a technical problem, we will work with the operator to try and immediately restart the unit. However, if the unit is not functioning and cannot be restarted, AFMA will order the boat to return to its home port immediately or to remain in port if that is where it is when we detect the problem. They will not be allowed to leave the port again until the unit is fixed. We will only lift the order when a technician has certified to AFMA that the VMS unit is operating and we have confirmed that this is the case.
“AFMA is taking this approach due to the less than acceptable levels of compliance we are seeing. VMS is essential to protecting the rights of other operators, meeting international obligations and effectively managing the Commonwealth fisheries resource itself,” Mr Venslovas said.
