Name: Christina Itintaake

Position:           Senior Verification Officer, Competent Authority Division, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development, Government of Kiribati

Country:           Kiribati

Christina took part in the FFA Regional Fish Inspectors Training held in Suva, Fiji Islands from 8th - 26th April 2019. The training was funded by the PEUMP programme and part of the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) KRA 2 activities.    

How are you currently using what you learnt during the training?
I am currently helping out my boss and other senior officials who have undergone the same training to train the newly recruited staff on official controls such as organoleptic evaluation, full audits of land based establishments and vessels (refrigerated sea water and ice longliner vessels), traceability and more. The reason being is that all newly recruited staff need to be trained by an experienced officer before doing the work alone as stipulated in our National Control Plan.

Have you done anything differently in your work as a result of the training?
Yes. The main things I remember doing differently after the training is how we carry out our inspections. The training has taught me to always assess the root cause of the problem and write that in the reports instead of just pointing out the problem which is not so effective and efficient so the operators won’t treat the root cause and eventually the same issue will be repetitive. Another thing is that now, we carry out internal review on a timely basis which is why I think is different as previous years as it has been mainly conducted by our Technical Advisor.

What positive outcomes are you seeing as a result of what you are doing?
I am able to point out my weaknesses and how to improve individually which will hopefully contribute to bettering our competent authority system. Also, the main positive outcome I think as a result of doing things differently is that I’ve finally come to appreciate that all the work we do as the competent authority is auditable and that we always need to think outside the box.

What factors contributed to that success? 
Healthy relationship between team members as well as good leadership and support from the team leader.

Looking back, what would you change about this training to improve it?
To include more hands on experience especially the inspection and boarding of fishing vessels and not just long liners but purse seiners as well.