Workshop: Marine Litter and Fishing Gear, FISH Standard, and Worker Voice
The Fishing Industry Association (PNG) Inc. is continuously delivering a workshop on social responsibility and working conditions on board fishing vessels, aligned with the FISH Standard for Crew and Marine Litter & Fishing Gear. The trainer, our COO, Marcelo Hidalgo prepared updated content and real cases studies for these two days workshop. The training aims both to increase the number of qualified Social Auditors within our members and also maintain awareness about Ghost gear, best practices for handling ETC, and auditing onboard. This provides attendees with the tools available on the market to ensure that tuna are captured in a legal, safe, free, and ethical manner. The training & workshop takes place in person from 2 - 3 November at the Lae Intercontinental Hotel, Papua New Guinea. A total of 23 representatives from the FIA PNG members: Trans-Pacific Journey, Frabelle Fishing Group, Bluecatch Fishing Corporation, Starcki Corporation, Fair Well Fishing, Nambawan, RD Tuna Processing PNG, IFC and National Fisheries Authority (NFA) were registered to attend.
Day # 1: The Training & Workshop on Marine Litter and Fishing Gear
On day 1, an intensive workshop on Marine Litter and fishing gear was carried out. The workshop grouped participants for a full interactive day with case studies and, at the end of the day, a test for evaluation.
Marine litter and fishing gear (including ghost gear prevention and best practices for handling ETP) form a primary pillar of FIA PNG's sustainability and accountability framework, which also covers crew welfare (FISH Standard), traceability, and scientific monitoring.
The training focuses on practical solutions for managing marine litter and fishing gear both at sea and at ports, addressing plastic pollution and lost or abandoned gear. During the workshop, several videos with good practices for releasing whale sharks, turtles, and silky sharks were shared and discussed with the attendees.
Annually, FIA PNG conducts continuous annual marine litter and fishing gear internal audits, awareness sessions, and observer training workshops for industry personnel to align with their policy manuals and demonstrate implementation of the client action plan of the MSC tuna fishery conditions on principle # 2.
These initiatives are structured to tackle ghost gear, minimise bycatch, and uphold environmental accountability across Papua New Guinea's tuna and commercial fisheries.
Day # 2: The Training & Workshop on FISH Standard For Crew
The Training and workshop is based on FISH standards and Worker Voice requirements; the training evaluates social and work aspects on-board. On this occasion, only, real case studies were discussed in interactive sessions to analyse real findings, raise non-conformities (NCs), analyse and discuss root cause analysis and write NCs properly.
This training action deals with the social and labour aspects that must occur within the framework of human and labour rights and ethical behaviour and is aligned with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In short, it is about acquiring adequate knowledge about the regulations, tools, and controls available to evaluate the practices and conditions in an activity as particular as fishing.
The workshop covers in detail the aspects that must be considered to create trust that the tuna products that reach the next step in the supply chain after capture have been obtained in legal, safe, free, and ethical conditions. The workshop is based on ILO Convention 188, F.I.S.H for Crew Standard,
Human Rights Conventions, Human Rights at Sea, Fisheries Crime from the UN Drugs and Crime Department guidance, Copenhagen Declaration, and Social Accountability Tools available online.
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