Delegates of the 5th Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Sub-Regional Group Meeting.
AFMA hosted the 5th Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Sub-Regional (Arafura and Timor Seas) Group meeting in Darwin on 11 to 13 March 2015. Delegates attended from each of the member nations including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Australia. Key matters discussed included illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing issues and MCS measures undertaken to combat these within their respective jurisdictions.
The Sub-Regional Arafura and Timor Seas is one of the three sub regions of the Regional Plan of Action to Promote Responsible Fishing Practices including Combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the South-east Asian Region (RPOA-IUU). The other two are the Sub-Regional Southern and Eastern China Sea and Sulu-Sulawesi Seas and the Sub-Regional Gulf of Thailand.
The major objective of the MCS Sub-Regional meeting is to coordinate MCS activities through the development of the 2015 Action Plan which formulates innovative MCS actions such as coordinated/joint patrols and intelligence sharing to be implemented in the sub region throughout the year.