Training Port Inspectors in Indonesia to Stop Illegal Fishing at the Dock

One way to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is at the dock, where the catch has to be landed and sold. The Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) sets minimum standards for port controls that keep illegally caught fish from being offloaded and sold. It entered into force worldwide in June, once 29 countries and the European Union had ratified it.

The United States helped negotiate the agreement, and NOAA is one of the lead U.S. agencies for training and technical help to other countries, work its Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) has done for years. For 3 years OLE had been building an inspector training course with Indonesia's Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, a partner of 8 years. After Indonesia ratified the agreement, the ministry asked OLE to train its officials along with customs officers, the foreign ministry and managers of major fishing ports. With the U.S. Agency for International Development, an OLE team went to Manado for a week-long pilot.

Day 1: The regional workshop

More than 75 people attended the opening workshop: OLE, the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, the Coral Triangle Initiative, the regional plan of action against IUU fishing in Southeast Asia (RPOA-IUU), the Packard Foundation and 10 Indonesian ministries. On a panel with Australian, Indonesian and regional speakers, OLE described how the United States applies the agreement, and participants discussed Indonesia's own plan. Global cooperation is the point: illegal fishing crosses borders, and so must the response.

The opening day of the workshop. NOAA Office of Law Enforcement.

With 17,500 islands and 95,000 km of coastline, Indonesia finds IUU fishing hard to detect. Its marine enforcement agencies patrol among clusters of vessels near maritime boundaries and want closer cooperation with the navy and with neighbors such as Malaysia and the Philippines.

A commercial fishing port in Indonesia. NOAA Office of Law Enforcement.

Foreign vessels fishing illegally in Indonesian waters are a major problem. Near the port of Bitung, seized boats waited to be disposed of.

Vessels seized for illegal fishing near Bitung port. NOAA Office of Law Enforcement.

Days 2 and 3: The rules and the boarding

A core group of 36 trainees then learned the agreement's obligations, operating requirements and minimum standards: it applies to foreign-flagged fishing vessels seeking to enter port; arriving vessels are screened using the information they must send ahead; inspections follow set steps; and parties must share information. On day 3, the training turned to the inspection itself: gear, catch, vessel documents and the collection of evidence.

A ministry official watches small local fishing boats pass the commercial dock at Bitung. NOAA Office of Law Enforcement.

Day 4: Staged boardings

In the Port of Bitung, the trainees split into four groups to board two vessels with two different staged scenarios, one an inspection of a carrier vessel, the other about markings and gear. Classmates played the crew. Trainees questioned them about the vessel's activities before it entered port, then boarded, gathered the crew, checked logbooks and papers, searched every hold and crawl space, measured the vessel's numbers and name, and examined the gear. Where they found violations, they filled in the agreement's forms and prepared evidence to send to the vessel's flag state. OLE agents and officers watched, asked questions and helped when asked, then went through each scenario with the trainees afterward. By day's end, each trainee had done two boardings and said they now knew what to look for and what to ask.

Day 5: Lessons and next steps

The last day reviewed the mock boardings and covered electronic vessel tracking, the steps after an inspection and how to record the results. Because this was a pilot, OLE asked for feedback to make sure the course suited Indonesia's needs and its national training center before it was finalized for wider use, and discussed the next steps in training with international partners. At the end of a long week, the trainees received their certificates.

Sources

• NOAA Fisheries, "Fighting IUU Fishing at the Ports: A photo journal of Port State Measures training in Indonesia"; rewritten in hubnx's own words. Photographs: NOAA Office of Law Enforcement. Photographs naming the people in them are not reproduced here.