The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is taking significant steps to secure the future of the country’s fisheries sector with the establishment of the Fisheries Compliance, Licensing, and Statistics Division, which is strategically positioned to ensure compliance with the Fisheries Act, 2018.

Dr Zahra Oliphant, principal director of the Fisheries Compliance, Licensing, and Statistics Division at the NFA, said that the new department has a focus on licensing and conducts onsite licensing sessions twice a month.

“The NFA is mandated by law to sustainably manage and develop our fisheries waters. Through this division, there is a focus on licensing, we have onsite licensing sessions twice per month and this serves the dual purpose of educating our fishers on the Act and ensuring that we get into their space to get them registered and licensed in the industry,” said Oliphant.

The director explained that the NFA also wants to place a focus on enforcement. The NFA collaborates with other government agencies to ensure regulations are adhered to.

“When persons do illegal activities, we do joint enforcement with the marine police and the coast guard. The fines in our law are prohibitive and we have fines that go up to $3 million, and the custodial sentence goes up to two years,” said Oliphant.

Since the establishment of the Division, the NFA has trained its first batch of compliance officers to enforce the Fisheries Act. The compliance officers, along with the extension officers from the capture fisheries division, serve as the face of the NFA on the ground.

In addition to enforcing the law, the Division’s Statistics and Data Management Branch uses data to drive decision-making. The NFA collects and applies statistics to guide interventions that promote the sector’s sustainability. The NFA aims to capture the fisheries and aquaculture subsectors’ contribution to food security and is exploring ways to increase fry and fish production through aquaculture.

The Quarterly Statistics Report is available to the public through the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries website.

The NFA’s new online licensing and registration system is set to launch in December. The registration process will be made easier for applicants, and the NFA will visit communities islandwide to ensure that fishers are regularized.