Illegal fishing operators will now find it harder to offload and sell the fish they catch, under enhanced United Nations measures to stamp out llegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The world’s first binding international treaty to stamp out illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) enforced last year has been enhanced and expanded.

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Jose Graziano da Silva said the new additions to the treaty, the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), include a “new initiative to improve flag-state compliance, a new set of voluntary guidelines on Catch Documentation Schemes – a passport of sorts without which fish can lose access to markets”.

He added that FAO is also “in the process of creating a transparent and comprehensive Global Record of Fishing Vessels”.

“All of these instruments complement the PSMA,” he said.

The PSMA strengthens inspection protocols for foreign-flagged fishing vessels coming into ports.

It requires foreign fishing vessels to show all required operating licenses; their activity logs, and to allow inspections of their catch.

In addition, it allows Port authorities to deny services to vessels in violation of the rules and to report them to other countries, making it harder for illegal operators to offload and sell the fish they catch elsewhere.

The PSMA currently has 46 parties including Tonga and the European Union to combat illegal fishing, which accounts for around one-sixth of all fish caught in the oceans.

Jose Graziano da Silva believes all nations should join the PSMA to help make the new rules stick.

“I call upon all nations that have not yet joined the PSMA to become part of it.”

“Implementing the PSMA will require a host of actions, including streamlined cross-border real-time communications systems, national legislative reviews, and skilled inspectors capable of identifying actual fish both by species and likely age, as well as ascertaining whether the gear used to catch them is allowed.”

He said that the PSMA acknowledges that developing countries and small island states such as Tonga "may need assistance in carrying out the monitoring, control, surveillance and compliance tasks the treaty requires, and all parties have pledged to provide that assistance”.

“The new rules’ ultimate strength will be determined by the weakest link, so all countries have a stake in making sure that no member lacks the technical capacity to deliver on treaty obligations,” he added.

The US, Norway and Sweden have already confirmed their contribution to this global capacity-building program.

In the Pacific region, many Pacific countries have also signed up to the Niue Treaty Subsidiary Agreement (NTSA), a legal agreement allowing Pacific nations to protect fisheries through the sharing of information and resources such as fisheries data and intelligence and conducting joint surveillance and enforcement activities.

Already joint maritime surveillance have taken place between the island countries.

Related article: Plans to stop over US$600M pilfered annually from the Pacific Ocean [2]