FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva hailed the more than 100 countries that are committed to combating unsustainable and illegal fishing, calling the rapid international adoption of the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing a “fantastic achievement”.
The PSMA, an international treaty brokered by FAO, entered into force in 2016. Today, 87 countries are Parties and another 18 are formally preparing to adhere.
“Today I see a room filled with many more delegates than two years ago,” Graziano da Silva said in an address to the Second Meeting of the Parties to the PSMA gathered in Chile to discuss how to optimize implementation of the treaty.
The PSMA requires foreign vessels to submit to inspections at any port of call, if deemed necessary by port states, and for such states to share information on detected violations. The agreement strengthens prior rules requiring countries to control the activities of their own fishing fleets and is designed to raise the cost of IUU fishing by making it harder for wrongly-caught fish to be sold.
IUU fishing is estimated to account for up to 26 million tonnes a year, or around one-fifth of the global catch, and undermines efforts to ensure sustainable fisheries through effective fish stock management measures around the world. Currently, one-third of the world’s fish stocks are being caught at biologically unsustainable levels – up threefold from the mid-1970s.
“One of the main conditions of the PSMA to achieve good results is to have a large number of countries preventing vessels from landing their illegal catch.” Graziano da Silva said. “Otherwise, if a vessel cannot disembark in one country, it will do so in a neighboring country.”
Currently, adhering Parties comprise more than half of the planet’s coastal states.
The International Day for the Fight Against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing will be celebrated on 5 June.
Original source: FAO
Published on 03 June 2019
