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Improving States’ Capacities to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing - GCP/INT/307/NOR

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Synopsis (short abstract) Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing undermines national and regional efforts to conserve and manage fish stocks, and inhibits progress towards achieving the goals of long-term sustainability. The detrimental effects of IUU fishing are particularly severe for developing coastal states and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), impacting national economies, livelihoods and the environment. In response to this phenomenon, a framework of international instruments has been developed in recent decades, the most important among them the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, commonly referred to as the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA). In this context, this Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad)-funded project aimed to improve developing countries and SIDS’ capability in the cohesive implementation of provision and procedures consistent with the PSMA and related international instruments, regional mechanisms and tools to combat IUU fishing. The main recipient countries of FAO’s legal and technical assistance and capacity development comprised Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Namibia and Sri Lanka. Several other developing countries, both Parties and non-Parties to the PSMA, benefited from the project’s activities aimed at strengthening regional coordination and cooperation on port State measures (PSMs)/the PSMA and complementary instruments to combat IUU fishing.

Language English

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    Combatting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing in Five Small Island Developing States - GCP/RLA/222/USA 2021
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    Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is a serious issue in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It threatens marine ecosystems, negatively impacts livelihoods and undermines efforts to manage fisheries sustainably. In 2009, the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA) became the first international and legally binding treaty to target IUU fishing specifically. The Port State Measures Support Project (PSMSP) was formulated to support the development of strategies, policy, legal and institutional frameworks and operational mechanisms for the implementation of the PSMA and other complementary instruments in five SIDS: the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
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