The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has completed its support to Operation Kuru Kuru, assisting Fiji to tackle illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activity. The Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency’s (FFA) Kuru Kuru is a coordinated maritime surveillance operation in which countries cooperate to monitor and protect Pacific island countries’ exclusive economic zones.
The ADF contribution to Operation Kuru Kuru was conducted through Operation Solania, the ADF contribution to maritime surveillance in the Pacific. For this iteration of Operation Solania, a Royal Australian Air Force C-27J Spartan flew sorties out of Suva and conducted surveillance of Fiji’s exclusive economic zone. The ADF also provided additional personnel to supplement the ADF contingent permanently deployed to the FFA’s Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre in Solomon Islands.
Commander Joint Operations, Vice Admiral Justin Jones said: “Operation Solania allows us to work with the Forum Fisheries Agency, our Pacific partners, and members of the Pacific Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group (Australia, the United States, New Zealand and France) to ensure the economic security and prosperity of the Pacific. This year, the Air Force has supported Operation Solania with a combination of C-27J Spartan and KA350 King Air aircraft, operating out of Vanuatu, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and now Fiji. This is in addition to support from the Navy where vessels support FFA’s Operation 365 during frequent deployments and transits in the Southwest Pacific. We are at our best when we work together as a Pacific family, to face joint challenges together.”
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It would be interesting to find out how much illegal fishing goes on in this area.
The fact that the ADF is assisting Fiji suggests there is a problem that could well be quite significant.
I wonder who then is the likely suspects, 90% chance it is China.
Globally, the cost of illegal fishing is tens of billions of dollars per year. In our region, the main culprits are China, North Korea and Taiwan. But it’s a widespread problem that sometimes defies national boundaries – even the occasional US long-line tuna boat does the wrong thing.