New ‘Three Treaties’ course launched under the PSMA Global Capacity Development Programme
© FAO/Meryem SalmiFisheries officers and port State control officers responsible for fishing vessel safety and decent work on board fishing vessels have started to benefit from a new course launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as part of its Global Capacity Development Programme in support of the implementation of the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA). The PSMA is this year commemorating 10 years since entry into force.
The FAO international course on the coordinated implementation of the three treaties is held for the first time in Rabat, Morocco, between the 30 March and 3 April 2026.
The course helps agencies in the coordinated implementation of the three treaties that aim or contribute to combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, safeguarding fishing vessel safety and decent work on board fishing vessels – the PSMA, the 2012 International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Cape Town Agreement (IMO CTA), and the 2007 International Labour Organization’s Work in Fishing Convention (ILO C.188).
It therefore enables officials from national fisheries, maritime and labour agencies to better understand the three international treaties and their implementation, learn about areas subject to inter-agency collaboration for a coordinated implementation, as well as relevant tools and resource materials. In this way, implementation of the PSMA would contribute to the implementation of the IMO CTA and ILO C.188 and vice versa.
26 officers from Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia, and Tunisia are the first beneficiaries of this international course, which is being funded by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, with the technical collaboration of the Ministerial Conference on Fisheries Cooperation among African States bordering the Atlantic Ocean (COMHAFAT / ATLAFCO), the ILO, the IMO, and the Government of Morocco.
The course forms part of the intensive FAO Fisheries Global Training Programme which contributes to national, regional, and global efforts to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing.