Over 60 countries have agreed in negotiating a binding international agreement aimed at closing ports to ships involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing during the first week of February. Representatives of these countries were engaged in five days of talks chaired by Brazil’s Fabio Hazin at FAO’s headquarters. The meeting discussed the general outlines for an international agreement or treaty on “port State measures” that would deny vessels engaged in IUU fishing access to fishing ports are largely in place.
It was decided that the fishing vessels that wish to land will be required to request permission from specially designated ports ahead of time, transmitting information on their activities and the fish they have on board. According to Fabio Hazin, who is also the Chair of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), the meeting was extremely positive.
Hazin asked the member states to get in touch with each other, on bilateral and multilateral negotiations, to reach a consensus on those unsolved issues. It is said that the agreement recommends that all the coastal countries shall designate which of its ports will permit foreign fishing vessels to anchor. That information has to be made public and shared. There are still controversies about IUU fishing.
