The Ministry of Fisheries in Vanuatu is working on a bill aimed at giving fisheries officers more power to penalise illegal fishing and deter over-fishing.
The principal compliance officer for the Ministry of Fisheries, Felix Toa Ngwango, says over the years they have found some loopholes in the current fisheries bill.
He says the changes they are making will close those gaps and allow officers to issue instant fines.
"We feel that it's going to work because it will make people see the seriousness of the matter and not involve themselves in over-harvesting, or even harvesting banned species because at the moment people are just doing it left, right and centre and there's no control of that. So we just need to make something, that once they are caught then we just issue them a fine, especially minor offences like harvesting of under-sized species."
Felix Toa Ngwango says it's hoped the changes to the bill can be approved by parliament in March.
