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Senior officials and technical experts from Parties to the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), along with those from non-Parties and  intergovernmental organizations, of the Southwest Pacific region,  met in New Zealand, in the first of a series of regional coordination meetings.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is convening several coordination meetings in 2024 that will discuss, on a regional level, the implementation of the PSMA and follow up on the ‘Bali Strategy’ adopted by the Parties to the Agreement in May 2023. The meeting for the Southwest Pacific took place in Auckland between the 12 – 16 February 2024, with delegates from 9 countries and 4 regional fishery bodies.

The PSMA is the first binding international agreement aiming to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Coming into force in 2016, the PSMA has the highest rate of adherence of all international fisheries and ocean-related instruments. Currently, the PSMA has 76 Parties including the European Union  acting as one Party on behalf of its Member States.

Such regional coordination meetings were called for by the Parties from the very first meeting back in 2017. Specifically, this regional coordination meeting took stock of the status of the Agreement and its application in the region, addressed challenges in the implementation of the PSMA and the usage of the PSMA Global Information Exchange System. At the same time, the meeting discussed regional port State measures implementation strategies and drew up recommendations, including on improving the effectiveness of the PSMA, for consideration by the PSMA Strategy and Monitoring Working Group.

Addressing the first regional coordination meeting, Matthew Camilleri, Leader of the FAO Fisheries Global and Regional Processes Team said that “these regional coordination meetings represent a great opportunity for progressing on the coordination,  implementation and monitoring of the PSMA at regional level whilst advancing discussions on various aspects of the Bali Strategy”.

More information on the PSMA and FAO’s work is available here.