REGIONAL TRAINING ON PORT STATE MEASURES IMPLEMENTATION FOR INSPECTORS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a global threat to sustainable fisheries and to the management and conservation of fishery resources and marine biodiversity. As a tool to combat IUU fishing, the importance to enhance port state controls has increasingly gained ground throughout the last decennium. The growing reliance on port States to combat non-sustainable fishing practices stems to a great extent from the failure of flag States to effectively control fishing operations carried out by vessels flying their flags.
Port State Measures (PSM) are requirements established or interventions undertaken by port States which a foreign fishing vessel must comply with or is subjected to as a condition for use of ports within the port State. National PSM would typically include requirements related to prior notification of port entry, use of designated ports, restrictions on port entry and landing/transshipment of fish, restrictions on supplies and services, documentation requirements, and port inspections, as well as related measures, such as IUU vessel listing, trade-related measures, and sanctions. Many of these measures have in recent years seen their inclusion and development in international instruments. Nonetheless, to further strengthen the implementation of the PSM, FAO in 2009 also adopted the Agreement of Port State Measures (PSMA) as legally-binding instruments for combating IUU fishing; and the PSMA has entered into force in June 2016.
Port State Measures (PSM) are requirements established or interventions undertaken by port States which a foreign fishing vessel must comply with or is subjected to as a condition for use of ports within the port State. National PSM would typically include requirements related to prior notification of port entry, use of designated ports, restrictions on port entry and landing/transshipment of fish, restrictions on supplies and services, documentation requirements and port inspections, as well as related measures, such as IUU vessel listing, trade-related measures and sanctions. Many of these measures have in recent years seen their inclusion and development in international instruments.
Since the late 1990s, a number of international fora issued calls to combat IUU fishing, and in March 2001, the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) adopted the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU fishing (IPOA-IUU) which was applied on a voluntary basis. A large and diverse set of measures for States was bounded to combat IUU fishing, individually and in collaboration with other States. Some of these measures are designed for use by all States; others are tailored for application by flag States, coastal States and port States.
Improved strength and coordination of PSM and other surveillance activities will be necessary to maximize the benefit from such surveillances. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has played a leading role in this regard, culminating in the acknowledgement by COFI at its Twenty-sixth Session in 2005 that there was a need to strengthen PSM as a means of combating IUU fishing in a more substantive manner given that the lack of agreed, binding measures provided a loophole. The Committee endorsed the FAO Model Scheme on Port State Measures to Combat IUU Fishing, and agreed that follow-up work should be undertaken, especially with respect to operate the FAO Model Scheme.
In the Southeast Asian region, the Plan of Action on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security Towards 2020 which was adopted in the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Conference Fish for the People 2020 “Adaptation to a Changing Environment” held in Bangkok, Thailand, 13-17 June 2011 emphasizes to build up capacity among Member Countries (MCs), including functions for regional and sub-regional cooperation, to effectively meet the requirements of PSM and flag State responsibilities.
In support of the implementation of PSM for the ASEAN region, and in anticipation of the entry into force of the Agreement of PSM (PSMA) and the need for strengthened regional cooperation, The SEAFDEC Training Department (TD) under the project entitled the “Promotion of Countermeasures to reduce IUU Fishing,” with support of the Japanese Trust Fund (JTF) has been promoting PSM activities in MCs. The project organized “Experts Group Meeting on Port State Measures in Southeast Asia”, “Expert Meeting on Regional Cooperation to Support the Implementation of Port State Measures in Southeast Asian Region,” and “Workshop on Regional Cooperation for Implementation of Port State Measures to Improve Fisheries Management and Reduce IUU Fishing in Southeast Asia” held in November 2012, February 2016 and November 2016, respectively. The recommendations from the abovementioned meetings and workshop emphasized that SEAFDEC and its partners should support and assist MCs to implement PSM activities through enhanced understanding of the requirements contained in the PSMA and to provide capacity building by engaging persons at all level and to further strengthen regional cooperation to combat IUU fishing within the ASEAN region.
Following the recommendation and requests from the MCs, “The Regional Training on Port State Measures implementation for Inspectors in Southeast Asia” will be organized by SEAFDEC/TD in collaboration with other international organizations to support the implementation and capacity building on PSM for inspectors in the region.
Objectives
The Training has objectives as follow:
To build up the capacity of participants in better understanding the PSM
To increase knowledge, skill and experience of participants for inspection to support PSM and port control implementation
To review existing inspection activities on port control/ PSMs and find the way for the practical improvement of PSM in MCs.
Expected Outputs
The expected outputs from this Training include:
Better understanding on implementation of Port State Measures of participants in Member Countries;
Increasing of knowledge, skill and experience of participants on inspection to support Port State Measures and port control implementation;
Sharing information on situation of inspection activities on port control/ Port State Measures in the region to find the way for practical improvement of PSM in Member Countries; and
Further strengthening regional cooperation to support the implementation of PSM in the region