THE country has secured more than SBD$3-million on Fishing Days licence fees for 2015-2016.

Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Hon John Maneniaru said the huge revenue collection was made when the country seized the issue of annual fishing licences to access the country’s fishing grounds for the past five years.

He said fishing associations and fishing companies were left with no option but buy fishing days licence as required by the Parties to Nauru Agreement (PNA), Vessel Day Scheme to fish in Solomon waters.

“Fishing boats can access to Solomon Islands waters only if they have the licence.

“Fishing Boats must leave the country fishing ground when their licence expired or apply for licence renewal,” Hon Maneniaru explained.

He said the introduction of Day Fishing Scheme together with close-fitting regulation contributes to the 3-million dollars Solomon Islands received in 2015-2016.

Hon Maneniaru also said there are new developments and achievements done since the beginning of this year.

He said his Ministry has implemented the PNA’s vessel days scheme for Long Liner Fisheries as of January this year.

Hon Maneniaru explained that Solomon Islands is the first country to implement the Vessel Days Scheme for Long Line Fisheries as part of PNA Vessel Day Scheme.

He adds they will be reviewing all fishing existing numbers of fishing boats to ensure operations are harmonised.

The review activities include the introduction of the Electronic Reporting System as well as proposed installation of cameras on long line vessels.

Hon Maneniaru said Solomon Islands has already implemented the Electronic Reporting Systems to improve the quality of data collection and reporting to ensure accuracy.

He said the new establishment will help the Ministry keep track of licensed fishing boats and their activities on a daily basis.

“All fishing boats licensed to fish in our water are required to register to the PNAs Electronic Fisheries, Information and Management system.

“This will allow all fishing boats to report to us electronically on a daily basis. Fishing boats will no longer send weekly reports via fax that at times hardly readable,” Hon Maneniaru said.

He adds that the new development will reduce the risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing practices within Solomon Islands waters.

Hon Maneniaru continues that his Ministry is also planning to introduce electronic monitoring system for the Long Line Fisheries.

He said his Ministry’s proposed plan is to install cameras on fishing boats to capture operations and events on board the vessels to provide additional support to Fisheries observers on board the boats.

Hon Maneniaru explained that the use of camera is a significant step for Long Line Fishing Boats as only 5 percent observer coverage are accredited at the moment as the vessels spend very long time fishing off-shore.

He said the new development plans and achievements are significant as the country just received the green card from European Union recently.

Hon Maneniaru said Solomon Islands is leading the initiatives required by PNA in the region.

But he said the new developments have put the Ministry commitments to the test in trying to improve the country’s fisheries industry and that support from the government and other stakeholders toward managing the country’s fisheries resources is extremely important.

Hon Maneniaru acknowledges the World Bank and The Nature Conservancy for support in the implementation of the projects.

There are three types of fishing done to harvest tuna in Solomon Islands and they are; Purse Seining, Lining and Pole Lining.

All these fishing methods are aiming to catch yellow fin tuna, skip jack tuna, big eye tuna and albacore.