The operation in the Solomon Islands, using Australian-donated patrol boats, protects hundreds of millions of dollars in tuna-fishing income for aid-dependent nations.
Now, there are plans to add Pacific border security to its brief, with a funding boost from Australia.
On the front line of enforcement for the multi-billion-dollar tuna fisheries in the Pacific are the ageing, Australian-funded patrol boats in the Solomon Islands.
Senior Sergeant Harold Reggie, of the Royal Solomon Islands Police, is the captain of the boat "Lata."
"They're pretty much scared. During our duties, we come across a lot of different people ... foreigners, fishermen. It's really a hard job. We find it very interesting at times."
It is one of 21 such boats in 12 Pacific nations.
About 60 per cent of the world's tuna comes from the Pacific, and some species are being hunted to the edge of extinction.
In the hills behind the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara, is the Forum Fisheries Agency that keeps watch.
Australian Navy commander Gavin Baker is seconded to the agency as a surveillance officer.
"We see all the fishing boats ... as you can see from this picture, we're tracking all these boats. We're looking at about 1,500 boats on any given day. We can see where they are, we know what their licences are, who's allowed to fish where and for how long. We report all that info to the member countries, and that empowers them to take any sovereign action they deem appropriate."
From Honiara, the 17-member Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency's Commander Baker works with a multinational team to gather intelligence for patrol boats on suspicious targets.
"One of their big roles is to support us, in terms of fisheries, countering illegal fishing operations, but they're also involved in search and rescue, election monitoring, maritime-security tasks involved in law enforcement across the spectrum of national-security requirements within each nation. So, the Pacific patrol-boat program is a huge resource for us to get boarding parties out to fishing fleets, to get on board fishing boats and check out they're intact and complying with the regulations. But it's not just about fish. These patrol boats are a huge resource and, in some countries, the only resource that allows them to enforce in their economic zones."
It is Australian aid assuring countries collect hundreds of millions of dollars in income from fishing-licence fees.
The Forum Fisheries Agency monitors over 30 million square kilometres of sea, protecting an industry worth 8 billion Australian dollars.
The agency's James Movick says, without the tuna income, many of the Pacific economies would struggle to stay afloat.
"They'd be absolutely devastated, in most cases. I'd say three-quarters of the membership would have serious problems without the level of fishing-access revenues they're getting at this present time. For some countries, 90 per cent of government revenues depends on fishing access, 75 per cent, more than 40 per cent for a significant proportion of our membership."
Australia gives about $10 million a year to the agency.
Now Australia is preparing to ratify a Pacific-wide agreement gradually broadening the agency's remit on law enforcement and, James Movick hopes, the role of the agency.
"We have people-smuggling, drug-smuggling. I think it's important for Australia that the regional surveillance system that we put in place for fisheries can also be used to look at other border-control issues within the region. That's ultimately our goal, to be able to use the platform we developed to look at a broader range of border control for our Pacific member countries. So to the extent the Pacific member countries can better defend their borders, better defend their resources, it adds to the stability of the region, and that's to Australia's advantage as well."
Australia will spend $300 million to help replace the Pacific patrol fleet and has boosted funding for aerial surveillance.
It is a net being cast wider for a different kind of big fish* in the vast Pacific ocean.
"If you take into account all the Australian defence commitment to the Pacific island countries for the patrol-boat program, yes, Australia is by far the largest donor."
