David Karis serves as the Manager of the Vessel Monitoring System(VMS) at National Fisheries Authority(NFA) – Papua New Guinea(PNG), he also oversees and guides much of the development of the integrated Fisheries Information Management System(iFIMS), the system used by NFA in management of their fishery. David has a Bachelor in Management and Certificates in Tropical Fisheries and Information Technology and has attended numerous courses on fisheries management subjects ranging from VMS and GIS, to Fisheries Management and Fisheries Investigation and Enforcement. David’s 20 year career with NFA includes time as a Prawn and Lobster technician, Tuna Scientific Observer, Tuna Port Sampler, Fisheries Enforcement/Investigations Officer and VMS Manager.

Speech Summary

The National Fisheries Authority Vessel Monitoring System was upgraded to a comprehensive web based platform known as the integrated Fisheries Information Management System(iFIMS) in 2010. iFIMS was developed “Fit for Purpose” as an integrated platform encompassing monitoring, eReporting, compliance and fisheries management tools. The database development has comprised of a series of projects since commencement, including:

• Vessel Register
• Asset Tracking System (ATS)
• VDS
• Crew Register
• MCS Live access and Photos
• Alerting Visual and Email/SMS
• e-Forms
• Electronic Vessel Register (Licensing)
• Other integration (such as with the FFA regional register)
• Port sampling
• Catch traceability
• Observer management and tracking
• FAD Tracking
• Industry Access
• Flag State Access.

These many interrelated components of the system are integrated and connected to each other. For example, the Observer Management module, includes the functional Observer booking system, but is also integrated to the Asset Tracking System (ATS), Alerting, eForms, Catch Document Scheme (CDS), Licensing and Reporting systems. It is the power of this integration which makes iFIMS so efficient and effective for NFA PNG.