11. CHECKLIST OF RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

All States

• All States that have not yet done so should become party to the 1982 UN Convention, the 1993 FAO Compliance Agreement and the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement.

• All States should fully implement the Code of Conduct and its related International Plans of Action.

• All States whose vessels participate in fisheries regulated by RFMOs should either become members of those RFMOs or, at a minimum, apply the conservation and management measures adopted by those RFMOs to their own vessels or adopt measures consistent with those conservation and management measures.

• All States should cooperate to establish new RFMOs as needed for coordinated conservation and management of fish stocks.

• All States should develop national plans of action to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing as envisioned in paragraph 25 of the IPOA-IUU.

• All States should undertake a thorough review of their existing laws, regulations and practices that may relate to IUU fishing.

• All States should make it a violation of their law for their nationals to violate the fishery conservation and management laws of any other State or to undermine the effectiveness of conservation and management measures adopted by a RFMO.

• All States should discourage their nationals from reflagging fishing vessels, or from initially registering new vessels, in States that are identified by a RFMO as undermining the effectiveness conservation and management measures adopted by that RFMO.

• All States should ensure that their nationals are aware of the effects of IUU fishing and should discourage them from doing business with those engaged in IUU fishing.

• All States should promptly terminate subsidies and other forms of economic support for IUU fishing.

• All States should consider participating in the International Network for the Cooperation and Coordination of Fisheries-Related Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Activities.

Flag States

• Flag States should require their fishing vessels, including as many small fishing vessels as possible, to be registered.

• Before a flag State registers a fishing vessel, it should ensure that it has the means to control the fishing activities of the vessel.

• Flag States should generally avoid registering a vessel that has a history of IUU fishing or that appears to have been involved in "flag hopping."

• A flag State should maintain a comprehensive record of fishing vessels entitled to fly its flag, containing the information set forth in Box 2 of these guidelines.

• A flag State should prohibit its vessels from fishing without express authorization and should grant such authorization only to vessels properly registered in its territory and entered in its record of fishing vessels.

• A flag State should coordinate the functions of registering fishing vessels and granting authorizations to fish among its responsible government agencies.

• Where a vessel has been identified as having engaged in IUU fishing, flag States should ensure that their other vessels do not tranship fish from that vessel, re-supply that vessel or assist it in other ways (except for humanitarian purposes such as in cases of distress).

• Flag States should closely control the transshipment process.
  • Flag States should consider prohibiting transshipment of fish at sea entirely.

  • At a minimum, flag States should require prior authorization for transshipment of fish at sea and should require vessels to report information in paragraph 49 of the IPOA-IUU.

• Flag States should ensure that their vessels fishing on the high seas do not undermine fishery conservation and management measures that apply in any high seas area.

• Vessels should not fish on the high seas except pursuant to express authorization to do so issued by the flag State.

• A flag State should not grant such authorization unless it can ensure that the vessel will not undermine fishery conservation and management measures that apply in a high seas area in which the vessel will operate.
• If a flag State cannot monitor the fishing activities of its vessels on the high seas, it should consider authorizing other States to board and inspect those vessels on its behalf.

• Flag States should submit data to FAO on its high seas fishing vessels and update those submissions regularly.

Coastal States

• A coastal State should know the location of all vessels fishing in waters under its jurisdiction.
  • Tools for tracking vessels include mandatory position reporting by radio and mandatory maintenance of logbooks with frequent recording of vessel position.

  • Coastal States should consider developing programs to place independent observers on board fishing vessels to monitor vessel positions and to observe fishing operations.

  • Coastal States should strengthen their capacity to conduct regular patrols in areas where vessels are known to fish.

  • Coastal States should phase in the required use of VMS by vessels fishing in waters under their jurisdiction.

• A coastal State should be able to determine the catch of each vessel fishing in waters under its jurisdiction.

• A coastal State should require such vessels to report on their fishing activities at regular intervals as a condition of receiving an authorization to fish.

• VMS, radio and fax methods all provide time-sensitive means for such reporting.

• Mandatory reporting of catch data through logbooks is also common.
• A coastal State should be able to verify the accuracy of reported data and should penalize the failure to report and the misreporting of data. Approaches include routine inspections in port and the use of independent on-board observers.

• A coastal State should ensure that waters under its jurisdiction are clearly delineated and marked on charts.

• A coastal State should carefully control fisheries access by foreign vessels.

• A coastal State should avoid granting access to vessels with a history of IUU fishing.

• Before a coastal State permits a vessel registered in another State to fish in waters under its jurisdiction, it should verify that the vessel has received from its flag State a specific authorization to fish in waters beyond the jurisdiction of the flag State.

• Ideally, a coastal State should not permit a foreign vessel to fish in waters under its jurisdiction unless it is requested to do so by the flag State, or the flag State at least indicates that it does not object to the proposed fishing.

• A coastal State should maintain a record of foreign vessels authorized to fish in waters under its jurisdiction.

• A coastal State should require foreign vessels granted fisheries access to use VMS so as to have real-time knowledge of vessel positions and regular data reports.

• A coastal State should consider requiring foreign vessels, or a certain percentage of them, to carry independent observers.
• Coastal States in a given region should consider whether it would be advantageous to develop joint or common rules for fisheries access.

Port States

• A port State should require foreign fishing vessels seeking port access to provide at a minimum:
  • reasonable advance notice of their entry into port;

  • a copy of their authorization to fish; and

  • details of their fishing trip and quantities of fish on board.

• A port State should also require other foreign vessels involved in fishing-related activities, particularly transport vessels, to provide comparable data before entering port.

• A State should only grant foreign fishing vessels access to its ports where the State has the capability to conduct vessel inspections. During such inspections, a port State should collect at least the following information, which should be provided to the flag State and, where appropriate, to the relevant RFMO:

• the flag State of the vessel and identification details;

• name, nationality, and qualifications of the master and the fishing master;

• fishing gear;

• catch on board, including origin, species, form, and quantity;

• where appropriate, other information required by a RFMO or international agreement; and

• total landed and transshipped catch.
• If a State has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a vessel in its port has engaged in or supported IUU fishing, the port State should:

• not to allow the vessel to land or transship fish in its port;

• immediately to report the matter to the flag State; and

• if the suspected IUU fishing may have taken place in waters under the jurisdiction of another State or in waters under the purview of a RFMO, immediately report the matter to that State and/or RFMO as well.
• If the suspected IUU fishing may have taken place in waters under the jurisdiction of the port State, that State should exercise its jurisdiction as a coastal State to investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute and penalize those responsible for the IUU fishing.

• If the suspected IUU fishing may have taken place in waters beyond the jurisdiction of the port State, the port State may take action against the vessel and its operators with the consent of, or at the request of, the flag State.

• Port States, acting in cooperation and in particular through RFMOs, should adopt and/or strengthen schemes to prevent landings and transshipments of fish harvested through IUU fishing.

• Port States, acting through RFMOs, should strengthen schemes for addressing non-member fishing by adopting a presumption against landings by non-member vessels that are identified as having engaged in IUU fishing (and not only against vessels that are actually sighted while engaging in IUU fishing).

Internationally Agreed Market-Related Measures

• States should develop internationally agreed market-related measures to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing. Such measures should be interpreted and applied in accordance with the principles, rights and obligations established by the WTO and implemented in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner.

• RFMOs should identify vessels that have engaged in IUU fishing. Where identified vessels repeatedly fly the flag of a particular State, the RFMO should also identify that flag State and urge it to bring the fishing activities of its vessels under control.

• States should take all steps necessary, consistent with international law, to prevent fish caught by vessels identified by an RFMO to have been engaged in IUU fishing being traded or imported into their territories.

• To assist States in implementing this commitment, RFMOs should adopt and/or strengthen catch certification and trade documentation schemes.

• States should disseminate information on IUU fishing to individuals and companies in their territories whose activities are related to fishing and encourage them not to do business with others who are engaged in or support IUU fishing.

• States should enact legislation that makes it a violation to conduct such business or to trade in fish or fish products derived from IUU fishing.

Implementation of IPOA-IUU through RFMOs

• To help prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing, RFMOs should:
  • collect and disseminate information relating to IUU fishing;

  • identify vessels that are engaging in IUU fishing and coordinate measures against them;

  • identify States whose vessels are engaging in IUU fishing and urge those States to rectify such behaviour;

  • call on their members to take action against vessels without nationality that are fishing in the relevant region;

  • adopt rules to ensure that vessel chartering arrangements do not lead to IUU fishing;

  • adopt port inspection schemes, restrictions on transshipment at sea and schemes creating a presumption that fish harvested by non-member vessels in the relevant region should not be landed in ports of members;

  • adopt catch certification and/or trade documentation schemes; and

  • adopt other market-related measures to combat IUU fishing.

• Members of RFMOs should ensure that the RFMOs have the resources necessary to carry out their functions.

• RFMOs should encourage non-members with a real interest in the fishery or fisheries concerned to become members, or should at least develop ways to facilitate cooperation by non-members in the work of RFMOs.

• RFMOs should re-examine their decision-making procedures to ensure that decisions concerning IUU fishing can be made promptly and consistently.

• RFMOs should limit or deny access to the fisheries resources under their purview to fishing vessels of members that do not comply with the measures adopted by the RFMOs, including any obligations to report fisheries data.

• RFMOs should encourage their members to impose sufficient and consistent penalties on IUU fishers.

• RFMOs should serve as hubs for improved collection and dissemination of information on vessels engaged in or supporting IUU fishing. For example, RFMOs can:

• develop lists of vessels that are believed to have engaged in IUU fishing, as well as lists of all vessels fishing in areas under their purview; and

• develop databases of information concerning fishing violations and prosecutions.
• RFMOs should serve as fora to expand and harmonize differing VMS arrangements currently in use. Through RFMOs, States can:

• develop common data formats, data sharing arrangements and standards for maintaining the technical integrity of VMS systems; and

• create neutral recipients of VMS data to help preserve the confidentiality of proprietary information, while also facilitating the exchange of information necessary for effective MCS.
• RFMOs should consider schemes for boarding and inspecting fishing vessels on the high seas, as envisioned in paragraph 80.8 of the IPOA-IUU.

• Those RFMOs that have not already done so should consider the establishment of comprehensive systems for port State measures for fishing vessels.