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More than 80 delegates are currently attending the fourth and final week-long regional coordination meeting to discuss the implementation of the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA).

The meeting opened earlier today, in Dakar, Senegal, for States and regional fishery bodies with an interest in the African, Near East, and Mediterranean regions.

During the opening session, Mr Mehdi Drissi, Senior Programme Officer, on behalf of Mr Gouantoueu Robert Guei, Coordinator of the Subregional Office for West Africa (SFW) and FAO Representative in Senegal, noted the latest FAO SOFIA report which shows that, in 2020, 13% of global marine captures were sourced from oceans flanking the African continent and the Near East region, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. These same fishing zones had 35-63% of stocks fished at unsustainable levels in the same year.

Mr Drissi highlighted the importance of the effective implementation of the PSMA, as the first legally-binding international instrument and the most cost-effective means for States to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, ultimately contributing to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources and marine ecosystems. “It is a powerful means for States and we note with satisfaction that Parties to the PSMA are currently 72, including the European Union on behalf of its Member States, and more countries are depositing their instrument of accession even as we speak”.

With reference to the region that this meeting is addressing, Matthew Camilleri, Leader of the FAO Fisheries Global and Regional Processes Team, said that more than half of the current PSMA Parties are countries from Africa, Near East, and Europe, as are the next two countries that are expected to accede to the Agreement in the coming days. Dr Camilleri explained the support that FAO provides to developing States which are Party to the PSMA, as well as those States wishing to become Party, through the FAO Global Capacity Development Programme that, to date, has provided assistance to more than 50 countries to strengthen their capacity to combat IUU fishing.

This final regional coordination meeting for 2022 follows earlier meetings held for Asia, for the Latin America and Caribbean region, and for the South West and East Pacific regions.

PSMA Regional Coordination Meetings were first called for 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 encouraged the holding of regional discussions in support of this working group.

The regional coordination meeting in Senegal is being conducted under the patronage of the Government of Senegal, with the financial support of the Government of Norway and the Government of Germany.

More information is available here.