This exchange program helps countries in Southeast Asia work together to combat IUU fishing. Up to 20 officer exchanges are being offered.
How it works
In each exchange, fisheries officials will swap and visit the agency of another country for about 1 month. The swap is for a minimum of 2 officials each exchange.
During their stay, officers will gain an understanding of how their host country combats IUU fishing. This includes the key monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) challenges the agency faces and the key areas of strength.
They will gain first-hand experience working on these issues.
When applying, you can elect:
- countries you are interested in visiting
- types of MCS related activities they would like to partake in. For example, offshore enforcement operational activities or onshore port inspections.
Selection
We will choose placements based on factors like:
- preferences of other counties
- relative capacity/specific skills of the involved agencies
- geographic closeness.
We intend exchanges to take place between pairs of fisheries officials from different countries. Each officer visits the agency of their partner. In some instances, exchanges can involve more than one officer from a given agency traveling to a receiving country. We can also organise one-way exchanges.
Costs
The Australian Government will cover your:
- flights
- accommodation
- per diems (at a rate agreed in advance)
- any associated travel and visa costs.
We will conduct a risk assessment before each exchange.
Timing
Exchanges will run from mid-2022 until 2026.
Criteria
- Only fisheries officers from ASEAN countries and Timor-Leste can apply.
- The program is intra-regional. Before the exchanges take place, agreements must be signed by both sending and receiving countries.
- We will evaluate requests based on:
- relative capacity in specific skills the exchange is designed to build
- ability of receiving country to provide learning opportunities for the visiting officers
- language skills of both parties
- gender balance of participating officers
- opportunities/accessibility for officers with disabilities.
- A minimum of two officers should take part in a single exchange.
- The receiving country must host a short visit from our risk assessment team beforehand. Our team will need to access key people and locations involved in the exchange. They will also review documents related to risk assessments of expected activities.
- Officers who have enrolled in the accredited MCS training will be prioritised for selection.
Contact us
How to apply
To register interest in the officer exchange program, please complete the expression of interest form.
After you register, a program official will contact you to talk about the program. You may need to supply more information to show you are eligible or to finalise placements.