Fifteen Fisheries Protection Officers (FPOs) recruited in July 2015 have begun the second stage of their training which kickstarted on Monday 18 January 2016 at the Police Training School in Beau Bassin.
The training, spread over a period of one month, includes several modules such as team building, ethical and legal conduct, the Public Officers’ Protection Act, awareness of illicit drugs, record statement under caution, and drug trafficking and smuggling. The resource persons are Police officers. Two other sessions focused on offences related to the Fisheries Act, and conducted by officers from the Ministry of Ocean Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries, Shipping and Outer Islands, are also part of the programme. A practical component is also on the agenda whereby the recruits will be familiarised to the drill exercise.
At the end of the programme, the FPOs will follow a part-time course of a six months’ duration on capacity building at the University of Technology in Mauritius. The modules will comprise Port State Control, international law of the sea, good governance, information technology, judicial proceedings, and law enforcement.
It is to be recalled that at induction a training programme of three weeks was mounted for the new FPOs, which was conducted at the Fisheries Training and Extension Centre in Pointe aux Sables. The topics covered included the role and duties of FPOs, fisheries laws and regulations, conditions of service, finance, procurement procedures, powers of enforcement, data collection, statement recording, code of ethics, customer care service, fight against corruption and management principles. After this initiation course, the new recruits have been posted in the 15 Fisheries Posts around the island.
The Fisheries Protection Service
Set up in 1947, the core activities of the FPS are to regulate fishing activities and enforcement of the provisions of the Fisheries and Marine Resources Act of 2007; to protect and conserve the marine ecosystem; to monitor all fishing activities; to collect Fisheries Statistics; to control fish/ fish products at Fish Landing Stations, fishing ports/ sale points; to monitor, control and conduct surveillance in the maritime zones and outer islands; and to proceed with the prosecution of fisheries cases before court, amongst others.
Besides its Head Office in Port Louis, the 184 officers in the service operate at four rehttp://allafrica.com/misc/info/copyright.htmlgional headquarters with a number of Fisheries Posts under each regional headquarter and five Flying Squads. The Fisheries Posts are located in the regions of Grand Gaube, Poste La Fayette, Mahebourg, and La Preneuse.
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