Federated States of Micronesia FAD Management Plan
1 : National Oceanic Management Authority
* : Corresponding author
P.O. Box PS 122 Kolonia, Pohnpei FSM 96941 -
États fédérés de Micronésie
The 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) covers roughly 1,000,000 square kilometers of ocean. It is one of the largest fishing zones in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). The key target species are skipjack, bigeye, and yellowfin tuna. Fishing revenues from domestic and foreign fishing vessels comes from principal fisheries operating in the FSM: purse seine, longline, and pole-and-line. Like many other Pacific Island countries, the FSM is concerned about the use of drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD) deployed and used by purse seine vessels in the FSM EEZ. These FADs may be unsustainable both in a biological and an economic sense. The government of the FSM recognised such potential adverse impacts of fishing on drifting FADs and developed a FAD Management Plan in 2009. Elements of this FAD Management Plan apply variously to FSM-flagged purse seine vessels and all foreign flagged purse seine vessels operating in the FSM EEZ under license. The Plan also includes anchored FAD and other FAD that fits the overriding definition of a FAD. The FSM FAD Management Plan is under continual review to ensure that management decisions are well informed with respect to the impact of FAD fishing mortality on vulnerable species such as juvenile bigeye, yellowfin and other non-target species. As a member of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), the FSM has implemented a three-month FAD closure inside the EEZ as part of its conservation and management measures with respect to bigeye and yellow fin tuna. Additional scientific monitoring, technical support, and funding is necessary to for further our understanding of the impacts of fishing on drifting FADs in the FSM EEZ and the appropriate management responses to such impacts.
| Subject : | : | oral |
| Language of text | : | English |
| Topics | : | 2- Industrial fisheries on moored and drifting FADs |
| PDF version | : |  PDF version |
