Report of the FAO Regional Workshop on Port State Measures to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. Cape Town, South Africa, 28–31 January 2008.
This document contains the report of the FAO Regional Workshop on Port State Measures to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, which was held at Cape Town, South Africa, from 28 to 31 January 2008.
The objective of the Workshop was to develop national capacity and promote bilateral, sub-regional and/or regional coordination so that countries will be better placed to strengthen and harmonize port State measures and, as a result, implement the relevant International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA–IUU) tools and the FAO Model Scheme and contribute to the development of a legally-binding instrument on port State measures.
The Workshop addressed: background and framework for port State measures; global and regional issues relating to IUU fishing and port State measures, and the 2005 FAO Model Scheme on Port State Measures to Combat IUU Fishing; the 2007 draft Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and the implementation of regional and national port State measures; adoption and implementation of port State measures by regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and the implementation of measures in the Southern and East Africa subregion; operational and information requirements for effective port State measures; industry perspectives on port State measures and national responses to questionnaires; and key issues for further action and cooperation in strengthening and harmonizing port State measures.
Working groups were formed to enhance the participatory nature of the Workshop and as a means of engendering broader and deeper discussion on concepts and issues relating to port State measures. In one exercise they addressed various aspects of port State measures, and recommended and prioritized areas for regional cooperation in implementing port State measures.
They also identified further types of support needed to implement port State measures and in another exercise they considered certain thematic aspects relating to the FAO Model Scheme and the draft Agreement on port State measures. This exercise included legal aspects, information requirements, systems and inspection procedures, the results of inspection and training.
Funding and support for the Workshop were provided by the FAO Regular Programme, by the Government of Norway through the Trust Fund for Port State Measures (MTF/GLO/206/MUL) and the FishCode Programme (MTF/GLO/125/MUL [Sweden-SIDA] [SWE/05/IUU Port State Measures/IUU fishing]). Funding was also provided by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).