International day against IUU fishing – PSMA chair statement
Statement by Olivier Marc Dion, Chairperson of the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures
The 5 of June 2025 is the international day for the fight against against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Why such a date? Because this day marks nine years since the coming into force of FAO’s Agreement on Port State Measures, which is the cornerstone of the fight against this global threat.
IUU fishing is indeed a global threat with dire consequences on both living resources across the oceans, and the livelihood of coastal communities. Even if we may have competing assessments, IUU fishing may be as high as 15% of all catches worldwide. Moreover, IUU fishing targets specific species – often highly valuable – and thus leads to overfishing of crucial fish stocks. It jeopardises the sustainability of legal, regulated fishing. This blue crime is also linked to other threats, such as slave labour.
Yet, IUU fishing cannot be tackled only through an enforcement action on a national basis by coastal states. It is the responsibility of other states too, especially flag states. It is a responsibility of the whole international community.
It is there that the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) has a paramount role to play. This treaty indeed provides us with both a legal framework and technical tools to share crucial information about vessels, inspections and IUU fishing activities. It is the only global Agreement we have that enables us to share this kind of information. With 82 Parties bound by this treaty, we are on the brink of closing all the ports and harbour to illegal catch.
France is wholly committed in the fight against IUU fishing. This very important issue will be front and centre at the third United Nations Oceans Conference (UNOC3) which convenes in Nice, France, from the 9 to the 13 June. There, our minister responsible for the Sea, Agnès Mrs Pannier-Runacher, and our Director General for Maritime Affairs, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mr Eric Banel, shall call for the international community to seize the opportunity to make the most profitable use of already existing tools. First and foremost, there is the PSMA; but we have also the IMO Cape Town Agreement on maritime security and the ILO Work in Fishing Convention.
In the wake of UNOC, we will have a two-year’s work period before the sixth Meeting of the Parties (MoP) which France will host in 2027. As the French representative and chair of the MoP, I am deeply honoured to be able to work, at this historical time, with the vice-chairs and the Agreement’s secretariat at FAO in the two years to come, and beyond.