The Kiribati Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development’s (MFMRD) has selected Satlink, a Spanish engineering company specialising in sustainable fishing solutions, to assist in modernising its Fisheries Management Platform.
The Republic of Kiribati, a sovereign state in Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean, has one of the largest exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the world with about 15% of the world's tropical tuna is caught in their waters.
Satlink’s technical team will assist in integrating and digitising information related the domestic and foreign fishing fleets that operate in Kiribati’s waters. The initial steps will integrate existing vessel monitoring systems and electronic reporting system information into a central server that is accessed by authorised fishery personnel.
The first phase of the project involves helping the ministry manage its tropical tuna fishery, the main resource in its EEZ, and it is anticipated that the new system will be operational in 2019.
The initiative will allow the Kiribati Fisheries Administration to better manage its fishing resources and will make it easier for the government of Kiribati to administer and manage fishing licences, offering more efficient control.
The project will contain different phases for its deployment, incorporating new functionalities tailored to the needs of the MFMRD. In addition to tuna, this includes options for other types of fisheries and it is planned to include electronic monitoring systems to further improve traceability and sustainability for the country.
