Islamabad, October 18, 2022 (PPI-OT):A meeting on installation of Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for onboard fishing vessels held under Chairmanship of Federal Secretary for Ministry of Maritime Affairs on 13th of October, 2022 at Karachi wherein tracking service provider companies were invited to share and present their expertise and capability in operating Vessel Monitoring System. The meeting was attended by Director General Ports and Shipping Wing, Karachi, Director Shipping, Ports and Shipping Wing Karachi, Assistant Fisheries Development Commissioner, Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Section Officer, Ports and Shipping Wing Karachi, and local service providers for VMS. Mr. Mathar Niaz Rana, the Federal Secretary for Ministry of Maritime Affairs welcomed the participants and appreciated their presence.
While addressing to the meeting, the Secretary highlighted that the installation of VMS for onboard fishing vessels is a project of National importance which needs to be cost effective for the end user and requires active participation from the private sector. As currently in Pakistan, no tracking system is in place to monitor the activity of fishing vessels both in territorial waters and deep sea. The Secretary further highlighted that there is a need to develop a central shore based system for monitoring and tracking wherein all the fishing vessels will be integrated in a single information system.
During the meeting, a detailed presentation and a draft proposal for the said project was presented and numerous ideas were exchanged on the basis of which the Federal Secretary directed the participant for the creation of a steering committee which will meet next week to further present the implementation plan. It was decided that regulatory guidelines on VMS will be shared with the private sector before finalization as they are the ones who will be dealing and complying with the document.
The chair desired that the regulations need to be business friendly and facilitate the private sector enabling them to provide services at competitive rates. The fishermen will have an open choice to choose from the service providers they wish to make the purchase of VMS equipment. The technical committee headed by PMSA was requested to share PC-I for the shore based centralized monitoring centre as they will be the primary monitoring and implementing agency once the system is ready for running.
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