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The 3^rd Sub-Regional Meeting on the Southern and Eastern Area of the South China Sea and the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas was organized by the Department of Fisheries Malaysia, from 20-21 March 2012 at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, to follow up the implementation of 2009 workplan as agreed in Ambon, Indonesia, in December 2009.

The Meeting was attended by delegates from Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines including RPOA secretariat. The meeting also attended by representative from the RPOA advisory body namely, WorldFish Centre and Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), and also Coral Triangle Initiatives on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF). Malaysia hosted the meeting and opened by the Chairman of the meeting, Mr. Mohamad Shaupi Bin Derahman, Deputy Director General (Operation), Department of Fisheries Malaysia. The objective of the meeting is to review the outcome of the 2^nd sub-regional meeting on RPOA in the Southern and Eastern of South China Sea and Sulu-Sulawesi Seas in Ambon 2009 and to discuss the 2012 workplan. More information on the outcome of the meeting can be accessed in the meeting document section.

RPOA member countries through the Secretariat keep giving the best effort to continue pursuing the best measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Recently, the Secretariat receive a report about the CCAMLR listed IUU Vessel who had entered RPOA regional waters. The vessels are FV PION and FV PERLON. The Secretariat distributed notification to member countries to do port deny against those vessels.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has taken action in the spirit of cooperation under the objectives and framework of the RPOA Agreement.  FV PION had been inspected upon entering Singapore waters and then directed to anchor in the Western Anchorage on 20 February 2012. The FV PERLON was also requested for port access into Singapore waters on the same date but the port access was withheld. The FV PERLON did not submit the repair assessment and has since moved away from the outer port limits of Singapore.

As mandated by RPOA Coordination Committee Meeting in Siem Riep, Cambodia, 2-3 November 2011, the RPOA countries to provide data and information on IUU fishing vessels and to inspect, investigate and refuse their entry to the RPOA members ports. FV Pion (formerly The Bird) is one of the CCAMLR listed IUU Vessel that has been captured in Malaysia this February. The first notification when FV Pion was sighted on 8 November 2011 in the Tasmania waters, and then it was sighted again on 27 January 2012 in the Indian Ocean, between Christmas and Cocos Islands. Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency tracked and inspected the vessel after received second notification from RPOA Secretariat.

Since 2009, the RPOA Secretariat have circulated the info of the IUU listed vessels movement which mainly operated by AFMA to the member countries as the reference for further necessary action including to inform the relevant agencies to inspect the vessel if visit their port and to ensure that the vessel is comply with the fisheries laws. This action was as an effort of the RPOA countries to keep continues pursuing the best measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing including using this achievement as reference in developing RPOA MCS Network.

Major issues requiring consideration and/or decision in the 4^th Coordination Committee Meeting including: possible development of a regional public awareness campaign for fishers about the seriousness of IUU fishing; taking forward the main findings of the RPOA report Net Returns on human capacity building, and coordinating arrangements for a workshop on implementing EC Regulation 1005/2008 in small scale fisheries. Summary Report