Fiji, Aug. 3 -- Ship Rider Agreements are not a surrender of Pacific sovereignty but one of the region's strongest expressions of it, according to Solomon Islands National University (SINU) Vice Chancellor and fisheries legal expert Dr Transform Aqorau, who says the agreements were developed by Pacific Island countries to strengthen enforcement of their fisheries laws while keeping full legal authority with the coastal State.

Dr Aqorau said misconceptions persist that Ship Rider Agreements allow foreign countries to police Pacific waters but stressed this is not how the arrangements operate.

"The answer is simple: they do not. In fact, Ship Rider Agreements are among the strongest expressions of Pacific Island sovereignty because they a...