In the spirit of increasing collaboration and strengthening regional fishery management, Viet Nam was invited to join this second dialogue, where delegates discussed challenges and best practices.

The issue of overfished fishery stocks was brought forward during the meeting. Reducing juvenile fish catch rates was highlighted as an important goal, as well as preventing Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing activities in the region. 

The meeting also highlighted the need for cross-boundary collaboration to better manage the region’s fisheries, particularly, for yellowfin tuna. Therefore, according to Fayakun Satria, the Director of Indonesia’s Fisheries Research Center (PUSRISKAN), “Although the three countries have different agendas, but as we are in the same region, we can identify similar issues and common positions to be discussed in regular meetings between us. For instance, as we already have a regional harvest strategy for Skipjack and its target reference points, so maybe we can start with the yellowfin tuna discussion by identifying which areas we can communicate”.