The scope of a Global Record is intended to describe its parameters and what should be included within the record. In this respect, final decisions will be made by FAO member-States at the Technical Consultation in late 2010. When considering ‘scope’ there are three important parameters to evaluate:

• What types of vessels should be included in the Global Record;
• Which vessels should be included within the Global Record (size, use, etc.);and
• What other vessel-related information should be included in the Global Record.

The Report of the Expert Consultation on the Development of a Comprehensive Global Record of Fishing Vessels. Rome, 25–28 February 2008. suggests that the scope should be broad so that the Record can achieve its goal as a comprehensive, effective tool and not be duplicative of other existing databases and mandatory unique identifiers.

The Global Record Expert Consultation also agreed that the goals of the Global Record should be aspirational so that future development could be achieved and future circumstances catered for.

What type of vessels should be included in the Global Record?

The 2005 Rome Declaration on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing - Adopted by the FAO Ministerial Meeting on Fisheries Rome, 12 March 2005 in calling for the development of a comprehensive global record of fishing vessels within FAO, specifically sought to include refrigerated transport vessels and supply vessels. This broad application recognised the significant role that such vessels play in facilitating IUU fishing. The Expert Consultation which assessed the Global Record concept in 2008 reinforced the Rome Declaration call for a broad scope. It suggested that the scope of the record should capture data on all vessels in the supply chain. With this in mind, the Expert Consultation suggested that it would be useful to rely on other pre-existing instruments for definitions of the key terms ’fishing’, ‘vessel’, and ‘fishing related activities’ in order to define the scope of coverage of the Global Record. The definitions found in the newly agreed Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. Rome. FAO Conference - Thirty-sixth Session. 18 - 23 November 2009 are identified as particularly useful, noting the need to exclude recreational fishing vessels.

• Fishing means:
  • o the actual or attempted searching for, catching, taking or harvesting of fish;
  • o engaging in any activity that can reasonably be expected to result in the locating, catching, taking or harvesting of fish.


• Vessel means:
  • o any vessel, ship of another type, boat and other craft used for, equipped to be used for, or intended to be used for, fishing or fishing-related activities.


• Fishing-related activities means:
  • o any operation in support of, or in preparation for, fishing, including the processing, transhipment or transport of fish that have not been previously landed and offloaded at a port, as well as the provision of personnel, fuel, gear and other supplies at sea.

Which vessels should be included within the Global Record (size, use, etc.)?

Fishing vessel registration and the maintenance of a comprehensive record of fishing vessels are fundamental pillars for effective fisheries management at the national level and essential for collaborative effort at the regional and global levels. Their importance is recognised in most major international fisheries instruments of recent years but despite this, comprehensive data on the world’s fishing fleets is not readily available.

Most countries maintain a register or record of larger industrial fishing vessels and carrier vessels, however many do not maintain any records of smaller fishing vessels. Given the concerns about fleet capacity, over-fishing, illegal fishing, ecological sustainability, and the wellbeing of coastal communities, this is an area where significant improvement can be achieved.

Equally, the lack of transparency in the way vessel records are made available for scrutiny is of concern. No country outside the European Union appears to provide publicly available data in a way that makes it possible to scrutinise commitments made to sustainability measures and fleet capacity reductions. Nor is it possible for MCS practitioners to identify and assess vessels with any degree of accuracy without direct inspection and lengthy investigation. Traceability schemes also rely heavily on the ability of State parties to verify supplied data and without at least basic transparency in the sector this is impossible, making most traceability schemes of questionable value.

This lack of basic transparency could be seen as the underlying facilitator of all the negative aspects of the global fisheries sector – IUU fishing, fleet over-capacity, over-fishing, ill-directed subsidies, corruption, poor fisheries management decisions, etc. National and regional fishing vessels records which provide transparent access to information are an essential starting point and at the international level, the Global Record of Fishing Vessels will draw all the various information sources together.

Nevertheless, there are believed to be about 4 million fishing vessels operating across the world’s oceans. Even though:

• The 2005 Rome Declaration on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing - Adopted by the FAO Ministerial Meeting on Fisheries Rome, 12 March 2005
• Report of the Expert Consultation on the Development of a Comprehensive Global Record of Fishing Vessels. Rome, 25–28 February 2008.

These documents recommend a comprehensive Record which includes all vessels, a carefully planned phased implementation approach will be needed to ensure that priority vessels are introduced in the first instance. A study will be undertaken into how such a phased implementation approach should be structured.

The EU Fleet Register (one of the few publicly available vessel records) provides an interesting case study into fleet dynamics. At the end of 2009, the EU Fleet Register listed some 84,800 fishing vessels, of which 3,655 were greater than 100 gross tonnes (GT) and a further 2,755 were between 50 – 100 GT. The vast majority (78,625) were less than 50 GT. In terms of length overall (LOA), 3,519 vessels were greater than 24 metres LOA, 3,602 were between 18 – 24 metres LOA, 2,441 were between 15 – 18 metres LOA, and a further 5,003 were between 12 – 15 metres LOA. Again the vast majority (70,270) were less than 12 metres LOA (defined as small-scale under EU Council Regulation (EC) No 2792/1999).

What other vessel-related information should be included in the Global Record?

The diagram below provides an insight into the types of vessel-related information that might be displayed through the Global Record. There is virtually no limit to the type of information that could be displayed but in order for it to be accurately linked to a specific vessel, it will need to be associated with the ‘unique vessel identifier’ (UVI) for that vessel. The importance of this association will need to be considered by States when they collect information so that the UVI is incorporated as one of the information requirements.