FAO intervention during Resumed Review Conference of the UNFSA, Agenda Item 10a - 'Review of the implementations relating to monitoring, control and surveillance, and compliance and enforcement'

FAO intervention under agenda item 10 (a)

'Review of the implementations relating to monitoring, control and surveillance, and compliance and enforcement'

Chairperson, distinguished delegates, colleagues,

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing undermines international, regional, sub-regional and national conservation and management measures for sustainable fisheries. To address this, a wide range of international instruments are developed to delineate a State’s responsibility in its capacity as a flag, coastal, port State as well as internationally agreed market related measures to combat IUU fishing. FAO wishes to stress that sustainable fisheries requires comprehensive and integrated approach: that is States exercising all available responsibilities in accordance with international law in all relevant capacities, as a flag, coastal, port and market State, individually or collectively and directly or through RFMOs, FAO or other relevant bodies.

FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA)

FAO wishes to take the opportunity to update States on latest development of the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), the first international legally binding agreement to specifically target IUU fishing, which entered into force on 5 June 2016. As of today, they are 75 Parties to the PSMA, representing 101 States. PSMA not only has the largest number of States adhering to it among the three binding international fisheries instruments; it also holds the record of being the instrument with the fastest rate of adherence among all ocean related international instruments.

FAO wishes to highlight that PSMA is an effective instrument to verify compliance with applicable conservation and management measures and ensure their effectiveness is not undermined. In the Fourth Meeting of the Parities to the PSMA held in 8-12 May 2023 in Bali, Indonesia, Parties adopted Bali Strategy as a tool to provide guidance to the Parties moving forward in strengthening the implementation of the PSMA at national, regional and global level. Parties also agreed on the operationalization of the Global Information Exchange System (GIES) by the end of 2023 as an effective tool for information exchange between Parties to implement the PSMA and relevant international instruments. 

With respect to strengthening cooperation between FAO and RFBs with respect to implementation of the PSMA, Parties to the PSMA in the Bali Strategy 1) agreed to the extent possible integrate implementation of the PSMA with other international instruments related to or impacting on fisheries, such as UNFSA; 2) agreed to promote the adoption and harmonization of port State measures (PSMs) consistent with the PSMA, including by proposing new and revised conservation and management measures in RFMOs to which they are contracting parties or members; 3) agreed to encourage RFBs to cooperate with the GIES or consider using GIES as means for sharing information on their PSMs; 4) adopted a PSMA questionnaire for RFBs and other international organizations and encouraged FAO to collaborate with the RFBs for their participation in completing the questionnaire.