Fisheries administration officials on patrol. ©FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with Fisheries Administration (FiA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Cambodia is building capacity of fisheries stakeholders in a bid to step up the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the country. As part of these efforts, FiA officials including those from cantonments and the Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are being trained on key aspects of the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), a binding international treaty which is aimed at preventing, and eliminating IUU fishing.

With the goal of preventing and eliminating IUU in Cambodia, the training builds capacity on areas that include standard operating procedures for PSMA for foreign fishing vessels that intend to visit and discharge fish in Cambodia's ports. Implementing the PSMA will enable FiA officials including cantonments and the Provincial Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing across coastal provinces.

“The PSMA is the first binding international agreement to specifically target IUU fishing by preventing vessels engaged in these activities from using ports and landing their catches. We reduce the incentive of such vessels to continue to operate, while the agreement also blocks fishery products derived from IUU fishing from reaching national and international markets. Cambodia was assessed as non-compliant with international fisheries laws and the European Union’s IUU Regulation,” said Deputy Director Dr. Chin Leakana, emphasizing the importance of implementing the PSMA to ensure that international requirements are met.

Cambodia is currently on the European Union (EU) red card list, which means that the country cannot export seafood to the EU due to having inadequate measures to deter IUU. This training is being organized to help FiA, cantonment, inspectorates and PDAFF officials to understand the procedures, methodology and recommended amendments for the PSMA implementation in order to have the IUU red card lifted.

” To implement the PSMA, it is important to build capacity of government officials to strengthen monitoring, control and surveillance, so that Cambodia can implement the international PSMA standard operation procedure and contribute to the global effort to reduce IUU fishing,” said Fisheries Expert from FAO, Marcel Kroese.

The effective implementation of the PSMA ultimately contributes to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources and marine ecosystems. Cambodia became a party to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing on 11 November 2019. FiA is in the process of designating the first PSMA port as part of the process to have the IUU red card lifted. On capacity building, training sessions are being held in Koh Kong province from 21 to 24 November 2023 and will engage with a total of 20 representatives from FiA.

The implementation of PSMA capacity building activities were initiated with funding from the EU with technical support from FAO Complementary Support to the Cambodia Programme for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in the Fisheries Sector which is one of the largest EU supported fisheries programmes in the world. CAPFISH-Capture aims to help the Royal Government of Cambodia to achieve a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive marine fisheries development, contributing to food security and poverty reduction.