Second PSMA Regional Coordination Meeting held in Panama
The second week-long regional coordination meeting to discuss the implementation of the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, was held this week in hybrid form, in Panama City, in Panama.
The meeting brought together 18 States with an interest in the region including States that are already Party to the PSMA, other FAO Members from the Latin America and Caribbean region, countries with an interest in fishing in the region, and representatives of the regional fisheries advisory body Organization of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector of the Central American Isthmus (OSPESCA).
This week-long meeting followed the first PSMA Regional Coordination Meeting held in Fiji last month.
PSMA Regional Coordination Meetings were first called for by Tonga’s Minister of Fisheries at the first meeting of the Parties hosted by Norway in 2017. More recently, in light of decisions taken during the third meeting of the Parties to the PSMA which, in 2021, suggested the setting up of a PSMA Strategy ad hoc Working Group to discuss the development of a strategy to improve the effectiveness of the Agreement, the Parties concurred on the holding of regional or sub-regional discussions in support of this working group.
The regional coordination meeting in Panama was held under the patronage of the Government of Panama, with the financial support of the Government of Norway.
More regional coordination meetings are planned for 2022. More information is available here.