This document provides an overview of the international framework for monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS), enforcement and compliance in deep-sea fisheries in the areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). It also provides an overview of the regional fisheries management organisations or arrangements (RFMO/As) with a conservation and management mandate for deep-sea species and summarizes the MCS measures implemented by them. It highlights the need for the development of MCS strategy, best-practice data management, capacity building, and compliance evaluation to effectively implement MCS. The final part of 3 this document describes and discusses the IUU vessel listing measures and procedures of the deep-sea RFMO/As, other relevant IUU initiatives and recommendations to improve the IUU listing measures and procedures of the deep-sea RFMO/As.  

The fifth meeting of the ABNJ Deep Seas Project Steering Committee (PSC) was held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy from 27–28 January 2020. The meeting was attended by representatives of eight project partners, including six regional bodies. The primary objectives of the fifth PSC were to consider the preliminary results of the Deep Sea Project (DSP) terminal evaluation and to provide feedback on the framework being developed for a second phase of the project under the coming GEF replenishment cycle. The PSC took note and commented on the Concept Note that has been prepared for the second phase of the DSP. The PSC also noted the timeline for the preparation and submission of documents for the GEF Council and that the five child projects and the Program Framework Document (PFD) need to be submitted together as a package. 

The seventh meeting of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) of the Common Oceans ABNJ Tuna Project was held in FAO Headquarters in Rome from 27-28 January 2020.

The Worldwide review of bottom fisheries in the high seas in 2016 is an update to the first Worldwide review of bottom fisheries in the high seas, published in 2009 based on information from 2003 to 2006. It provides states and other interested parties with a summary of the current status of high seas bottom fisheries worldwide. The present, updated review begins with a description of the demersal finfish and shellfish resources, before offering a global perspective on fisheries and management; it then provides specific, regional information over eleven chapters covering the high seas of the world’s oceans, by region. Drawing on data up to and including 2016, it provides a survey of the current state of bottom fisheries since the original Worldwide review, considering these fisheries in the context of their historical evolution.

The project organized, implemented and facilitated two workshops on tuna MP/MSE in the Indian Ocean region. The first workshop was organized in Thailand with participation of Maldives, both important coastal developing states in the Indian Ocean. The second workshop was organized in Republic of Korea considering the importance of Korean tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean region, in particular, and in all tuna RFMOs in general.