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The FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) Global Information Exchange System (GIES) has released yet another feature that helps States fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The GIES, an information tool developed by the PSMA Secretariat at the request of Parties to the PSMA, enhances the effectiveness of the Agreement by facilitating the sharing of confidential information among relevant entities, in a secure manner. It also supports risk analysis by providing summary information on the vessel compliance history to the next port State.

Risk analysis and due diligence processes are now being further supported through the release of a Live Chat feature that, from today, allows users of the GIES to initiate or participate in a direct and real-time communication between relevant entities, in a private and secure way. The Live Chat feature allows communication among Parties to the PSMA, non-parties, as well as operators of foreign vessels seeking entry into port or use of different port services.

Through this new secure feature, the port State Party can now request the vessel operator clarifications or additional documentation that can be shared electronically through the same Live Chat feature including with the vessel’s flag State and any other entity relevant to that PSMA event. This will greatly assist the Parties’ work in detecting IUU fishing effectively by providing a direct and immediate means to certify information by the relevant stakeholders.

The PSMA GIES was released by the PSMA Secretariat in December 2023 and in its first year since its launch, more than 600 inspection reports have been exchanged between countries that are Party to the PSMA.

The GIES is constantly adding new features to strengthen the global fight against IUU fishing. In the first weeks of 2025, the first connection between the fully electronic regional port State measures information system (e-PSM) of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and the GIES was established, allowing IOTC Contracting Parties that are also Parties to the PSMA to fulfil the PSMA requirements without duplicating their efforts.

Earlier, information on National Contact Points and on Designated Ports was enabled, followed by the Advance Request for Port Entry (ARPE) feature.

More information about the PSMA GIES is available here.

The PSMA Secretariat can be contacted here: [email protected].