People across the Pacific depend on healthy oceans for food, livelihoods and economic security. A regional training in Suva is bringing maritime and law enforcement agencies together to help protect those resources from illegal fishing and organised crime.

The week-long training on high-risk vessels and fisheries-related crimes is being organised by INTERPOL Headquarters, with support from Germany’s Ministry for the Environment through Project GAIA.

Officers from Fiji’s police, navy, fisheries ministry, ports corporation, maritime safety authority and immigration services are taking part, alongside law enforcement personnel from Tonga and Palau.

As part of the programme, participants visited a vessel at Suva Port this morning for a boarding exercise focused on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The exercise is designed to strengthen the ability of authorities to identify high-risk vessels and check compliance with national laws and international maritime rules.

Support from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency is also contributing to regional cooperation and capacity building.

The training aims to improve responses to fisheries-related crime and help keep Pacific waters safer and more secure for the communities that rely on them.