Parties draw up recommendations to monitor and strengthen the implementation and effectiveness of the PSMA
©FAOAt its second meeting held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 21–25 October 2024, the Strategy Working Group (SWG) of the Parties to the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) agreed on a set of key recommendations to strengthen the implementation and effectiveness of the Agreement in achieving its objective to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
These recommendations will be presented at the Fifth Meeting of the Parties (MOP5), in Ecuador in May 2025, to be considered for adoption.
57 delegates representing 39 Parties to the PSMA, 2 participants from other FAO Members, 3 inter-governmental organizations and 1 international non-governmental organization, participated in the SWG.
The SWG was established by the Parties to develop and oversee a strategy to improve the effectiveness of the Agreement in preventing, deterring and eliminating IUU fishing. At the meeting last week, the SWG revised its terms of reference to include the task of monitoring the implementation of the Agreement as requested at the Fourth Meeting of the Parties and are expected to be approved at MOP5.
The Second meeting of the SWG was supported by funding from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, which also hosted the meeting. During the same week, the Fifth meeting of the PSMA Part 6 Working Group also took place, and the fifth edition of the FAO international course on fisheries port inspections in support of the Agreement on Port State Measures commenced at the newly established PSMA training hub in Busan.