South African Fisheries Department has forbidden vessels from the Philippines to unload or transship tuna within its ports since it was discovered that the Philippines Fishery authority had not yet implemented a Fisheries Monitoring Center (FMC) in order to monitor the fishing positions of their vessels.
The measure taken was driven by the fact that two Philippine vessels, Castro 168 and Sunny Sky 888, applied to enter South African ports in April 2010 to discharge tuna and tuna-like species, which was caught in the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has a resolution which states that all member countries should have a FMC implemented by July 2007.
As a consequence of the happening, South African authorities decided to not allow any unloading/transshipment of Philippine vessels until such time that the flag state Fisheries Authority can demonstrate that all its vessels fishing on the high seas is monitored through its FMC.
“Given our responsibility as a port state to deter, eliminate and eradicate IUU fishing, South Africa would request that all IOTC members, which has vessels utilizing our ports, to provide information on whether the Fisheries Authority has established a FMC and whether all high seas vessels are monitoredâ€, stated Dr. Mono Machaba, the deputy director-general of South African Marine and Coastal Management.
Failure in providing such information by May 31st 2010 may negatively impact the operations of vessels wanting to use South African ports.
