Further assistance to Jamaica to implement the PSMA and complementary international instruments
A team from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted a mission to Jamaica from 10 to 14 February 2020.
Jamaica is carrying out the necessary preparations in order to become a Party to the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU Fishing (PSMA).
The mission was the third activity for Jamaica under the USA financed technical assistance project (GCP/RLA/222/USA) aiming at stepping up assistance to developing countries and Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) in the implementation of the PSMA and complementary international instruments to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Caribbean.
It follows an earlier mission late last year which focused on effective ways to strengthen national systems of monitoring, control, surveillance (MCS) and enforcement to combat IUU fishing.
While Jamaica’s Fisheries Act only entered into force last year, the mission team identified some additional actions needed by the country to effectively implement the PSMA and to take action against IUU fishing operators.
The experts worked with the recently established National Fisheries Authority (NFA) of Jamaica on the review and further development of the legal and policy frameworks, on developing an interagency-mechanism and on the identification and prioritization of MCS-related regulations and standard operating procedures for Jamaica to fulfil its international obligations as port, flag, coastal and market State.