Successful Mozambique mission continues assisting country to implement the PSMA
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) undertook a 10 days’ mission to Mozambique to assist the country in the implementation of the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) and complementary instruments to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).
The mission, held under the Swedish funded project GCP/INT/313/SWE, was successful in achieving all its objectives of: strengthening the synergies with other relevant programmes and projects; concluding the process of review and adoption of the policy and legal instruments drafted; collecting the relevant information for the redesign of the monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) systems and drafting of Standard Operations Procedures; and meeting with the relevant stakeholders in charge of implementing the PSMA, complementary international instruments and regional mechanism for combatting IUU fishing in Mozambique with a view to establish an inter-agency mechanism of cooperation.
During the mission, the FAO team visited the two designated ports of Maputo and Beira to assess the implementation of Port State Measures in the field and determine the procedures in place as well as the agencies involved in inspections. In the case of Maputo, this included visits to both the commercial and fishing ports.
During the first day of the mission, the FAO team participated in the third Meeting of Focal Points for the fisheries cooperation network among the Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), to commemorate the International Day on the Fight against IUU fishing opened by the Minister of the Sea, Internal Waters and Fisheries of Mozambique and the FAO Representative in the country.
At this meeting, the representatives of Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Principe, and Timor Leste stressed their commitment to adopt a legal instrument that will establish the network of cooperation to be signed in Lisbon, on 29 of June, at a High-Level event organised by CPLP, on the side lines of the UN Ocean Conference and their support to the side event that is being organised by CPLP with the support of FAO and The Pew Charitable Trusts, taking place on the same day, to showcase this initiative.