During this meeting of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which convened from 31 August to 2 September in Rome, Italy, delegates discussed measures to strengthen port state controls and crackdown on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) fishing.

A model scheme was elaborated upon that essentially contained a checklist of “best practices” that could be used by countries, regional fishing bodies or others in implementing port state measures. Such measures include mandating fishing boats and fish-processing vessels wishing to land in a port to request permission to dock and provide vessel identification information as well as details about cargo and recent fishing activities. This would allow authorities to turn away any ships previously reported as involved in IUU fishing. In addition, delegates asked the UN agency to establish training programmes in developing countries aimed at helping them get their port inspection programmes off the ground, and to create a comprehensive database of port state measures currently in use around the world, which countries can use when drafting their own national policies and regulations. More information.