Thumbnail Image

Combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

To cite or share https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1431en

Synopsis (short abstract) Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems because it undermines national and regional fisheries conservation and management efforts. It also jeopardizes livelihoods, exacerbates poverty, and increases food insecurity. The FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA), in force since 2016, is the first binding international agreement targeting IUU fishing practices. Its objective is to combat IUU fishing by preventing vessels engaged in such activities from using ports and landing their catches. To support its implementation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has established auxiliary tools like the PSMA Global Information Exchange System. This system allows countries to upload inspection data under the PSMA and create a track record for each vessel, thus providing crucial intelligence in the fight against IUU fishing. FAO has assisted Ecuadorian authorities since 2019 to strengthen their policies and regulations to combat IUU fishing. It has also assisted Guinea in improving its ability to fulfil its flag, port, coastal and market State responsibilities in line with its commitments as a Party to the PSMA and complementary international instruments. A policy and strategy for fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance, prepared by FAO and the Mozambique government, became law in 2023.

Statutory body / Meeting title FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI)

https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1431en

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Evaluation of FAO’s work on the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing
    Evaluation brief
    2024
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA) was approved by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 2009 and entered into force in June 2016. It is the first binding international agreement to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by strengthening port state controls as a means of ensuring the long-term conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources.FAO supports the implementation of PSMA through the global programme PGM/MUL/2016-2021/PSMA, consisting of 21 projects/projects funded by bilateral and multilateral donors. Since the programme was launched in 2017, the European Union, Germany, Iceland, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United States of America have committed over USD 27.7 million.The evaluation aims to provide accountability to national governments, resource partners and FAO management for the results to which the programme contributed. It also seeks to draw lessons from the programme’s design and implementation that could inform future, similar interventions. The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation will inform the 5th Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement and contribute to a broader understanding of FAO’s work on the prevention of IUU fishing.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Agreement on Port State Measures and the framework to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing 2024
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This fact sheet is part of the promotional material of the FAO eLearning Academy. It refers to a course focused on defining illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, exploring international responsibilities of flag, coastal, and port states to combat it, and detailing the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), the first binding international instrument to prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Project
    Building Global Capacity to Fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing through the Port State Measures Agreement - GCP/GLO/447/EC 2025
    Also available in:
    Efforts to manage and conserve global fisheries stocks are undermined by illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which affects the long-term sustainability of fisheries. For more than four decades, beginning with the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, an international framework to manage fisheries sustainably has coalesced, and in more recent years, tools specifically targeting IUU fishing have also been developed and agreed upon. One of these tools is the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU fishing, or the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA). This project was designed to support the implementation of the FAO’s PSMA Global Capacity Development Programme and was embedded in Part 6 of the Agreement, which concerns requirements for developing States. It specifically targeted the countries of Cameroon, Comoros, Ecuador and Ghana, assisting these countries to implement the PSMA, as well as other instruments, mechanisms and tools to continue the fight against IUU fishing. In addition, it sought to enhance global information exchange for the effective implementation of the PSMA through the further development and operationalization of the FAO Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels (Global Record) and the design and development of the PSMA Global Information Exchange System (GIES).
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.