More women are taking on t he job

Robert Matau





IT is 1 am in the morning in Honiara and Ambrose Orianihaa gets a telephone call from Taiwan from a purse seiner fishing boat skipper who wants to fish in the Federated States of Micronesia.
Because of the time difference, Orianihaa must get back to the Taiwanese ship to confirm where the observers are to rendezvous with the fishing vessel.
He chooses carefully from a pool of observers already trained by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA).
After selecting the right person, he will have to get them onto the next flight to the pickup point—a challenging task.
A familiar delay is visa clearance for the short period needed to fly an observer from one nation to another. Then, the observer may not understand the importance of getting prepared soon enough.
Orianihaa must find the appropriate amount of money for the observer to survive the full duration of the fishing trip, which at times can last up to three months.
Ever since the Parties to the Nauru Agreement approved 100 percent observer coverage and followed by all the Western and Central Fisheries Commission nations, Orianihaa has to make sure observers are on board all fishing vessels in the Pacific waters.
Surprisingly women are stamping their mark already in this area. Unofficially, six women from the Solomon Islands have taken up the initiative. Surprisingly, the trend is not reserved only to the Solomons. It is understood Papua New Guinea has more women observers than men.
Orianihaa told ISLANDS BUSINESS that having 100 percent observers on all fishing boats is the first in any fishing region of the world.
“It is a big jump from 20 percent to 100 percent coverage—it means that all vessels which go out to sea must have an observer on board,” he said.
“Whether they are fishing under bilateral arrangement, the US treaty, or FSM arrangement, as long as they are purse seiners, they must have an observer on board.
“The observers will monitor all fishing activities for all purse seiners while they are out at sea fishing.”
They will also observe how much of the other fish species are caught, such as sharks, mahimahi, rainbow runner and troicha.
If in some cases the crew might keep some fish on board for consumption the observers record this as well.
Orinihaa said they have observers on all 67 vessels currently fishing under the US Treaty and FSM Arrangement in Pacific Islands waters.
He said some observers have complained of their treatment on board by the crew.
“Some observers will say they are not happy but it is up to us to find out what is happening.
“We have also received reports of pollution and transfer of fish cuts at sea. We have also received feedbacks about the validity of licenses for fishing vessels. But like any pilot project, it has not been plain sailing.
“Sometimes I face problems with the observers when the vessels is about to depart.
“I cannot find an observer quickly enough to get on board and another problem is sending money to observers when they get in to different ports,” he said.
“It takes a lot of time. It depends on where the boats are calling. If I get the boat in American Samoa, I will probably look at Fiji and Tonga and Samoa because they are closer to Pagopago.
“If I get the boat back here in Honiara, the first priority would probably go to an observer here in Honiara because it is easier for me and it does not cost me anything.
“In cases where we have to fly an observer to another member country, it causes a problem.
‘“If you compare the level of work they do and the data they collect it is worth flying these observers there.
“Normally I expect observers to be at sea for some time between two and three months.”
Oriniahaa said some of the observers do not last the duration of the trip and they break their trip early to return to their homes.
He said some observers have to travel as far as Ecuador and this means getting visas ready and money available and ensuring the observer gets off at the right airport and to the right port.
But being an observer is no picnic – if you do not strike the right balance between your duty to the organization that sent you and the fishing crew you live with at sea life can become miserable.
“I too was once an observer and the very minute you step foot on a fishing vessel you already have some sort of differing of opinions.
“What we encourage observers is to stick to your work and just report and stick to what you see.
“Try to be friendly but do your job at the same time. They do not have any enforcement powers but they can write what happens on the boat and collect data.”
The data is how FFA makes its decisions to protect its tuna stock, understood to be a quarter of the world’s tuna supply.
It is one of way of policing these activities to a certain extent and helping them make educated decisions in the future.
Oriniahaa said they train about 2000 observers but there is a problem with retention because the work is not full time.
Observers are paid when they get the opportunity to go out to sea and some of the observers make it to higher positions in the FFA hierarchy.
Melinda Dorah is one of six female observers from the Solomon Islands. She has just completed three different assignments since December 24 last year in the Federated States of Micronesia, spending Christmas in the high seas on a Taiwanese fishing vessel.
She boarded her first vessel in Honiara and that took her to Pohnpei (FSM) to offload its catch before returning to sea again and offloading at Majuro in the Marshalls, and then it was back to Pohnpei to offload more fish.
From Pohnpei she caught the flight back to Honiara on April 8 because the vessel had to return to Taiwan for dry docking.
On her first fishing trip on the Sea Chase, a Korean boat, she remembers how she had to adapt quickly because it was an all-male crew.
“On my first trip, the weather was quite rough and we experienced strong winds,” she said.
“We always have boarding meetings before an observer actually settles down in his or her room.
“I sat in with three senior observers, men too, and they accompanied me for that boarding meeting.
“My room was reserved for the helicopter pilot who did not make it that trip so I was quite comfortable.
“I started feeling home sick and it started to sink in that I was the only female on the vessel.”
On the difficulties she faced on board, Dorah said the main one was the language barrier.
At times she recalls using sign language when she could not get her message across to the crew members.
“Sometimes they poke some really wild male jokes because they treat me like one of them and that helps.
She understands the importance of her job collecting data for officials on the kinds of catches recorded and you can assess stocks to a certain extent from there,” she said.
“The data we collect is important in the research and for making educated decisions on the future but more importantly, maintaining and controlling of our fish stocks.”
The Malaita lass said she definitely is ready for another trip and she believes her work helps in contributing to the aims and objectives of the FFA to manage tuna resources.
“To be honest, no matter how hard it seems at times, if you have the heart for that job, you should be successful,” she said.