Officers from the Vanuatu Fisheries Department (VFD) and the Police Maritime Wing (PMW) have completed intensive refresher training on Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) at the Melanesian Hotel in Port-Vila
The training was done through the assistance of the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and conducted by the FFA VMS Manager, Ramesh Chand and the FFA VMS Technical Personnel, Daniel Koroi.
The VMS is a cost effective satellite-based tool for the successful monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) of Fisheries activities.
It provides the Fisheries Department with accurate and timely information about the location and activity of all regulated fishing vessels.
All Vanuatu-flagged fishing vessels and all foreign fishing vessels licensed to operate inside the Vanuatu Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) are required as part of their fishing licensing conditions to install, operate and maintain a VMS onboard their vessels for the duration of the licensing period.
In addition to VMS, the officers also learned and had hands on practical exercises on Quantum Geographic Informations System (QGIS) which will greatly help them in analysing VMS data.
The VFD and PMW have qualified VMS officers that monitor Vanuatu Flagged and Foreign Flagged Fishing Vessels daily.
Photo supplied Caption: Workshop Participants at Melanesian hotel