Report of the seventh meeting of the Global Record Informal Open-Ended Technical and Advisory Working Group
The seventh meeting of the Global Record Informal Open-Ended Technical and Advisory Working Group (GRWG) was held in Panama City on 19 March 2024.The meeting was attended by experts from FAO Member States, intergovernmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations.
Issues discussed included: state of affairs of the Global Record, key considerations for the Global Record moving forward and assistance to developing states.The GRWG called for states to continue uploading, maintaining and updating vessels given its critical role for the PSMA Global Information Exchange System (GIES) which requires reliable information on the identity of vessels.
The GRWG considered as a minimum, the introduction of three broad categories of vessels of the Global Record (fishing vessels, refrigerated transport vessels and supply vessels) for those cases where vessel type is not communicated using the ISSCFV (International Standard Statistical Classification of Fishery Vessels by Vessel Types) classification. The GRWG called for studies on the feasibility and implications of obtaining and sharing ultimate beneficiary ownership information recognizing this information as crucial in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing).
The GRWG approved the reintroduction of a deep hyperlink to the International Maritime Organization’s Global Integrated Shipping Information System for accessing additional relevant information contained in that system.