The first substantive meeting of the High Seas Task Force has taken place, with members discussing how to make progress in six priority areas.

The meeting, which was held in Paris, France on 9 March 2005, was attended by Task Force members and invited experts from a number of working groups. The Task Force is comprised of ministers and representatives from Australia, Canada, Chile, Namibia, New Zealand and the UK, as well as the Directors-General of WWF and IUCN and the Earth Institute.
Participants considered how to advance the following six priority areas: sharing intelligence and better coordination of monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS); developing a global register of high seas fishing vessels; preparing guidelines on the performance of flag States regarding their high seas fishing vessels; strengthening in-port measures and control over nationals; analyzing trade-related measures; and regional fisheries management organization (RFMO)-based initiatives and governance issues.
On High Sea MCS, Task Force members agreed that the existing network should be transformed into an international unit with dedicated resources, its own analytical capacity and the ability to provide training and technical support to fisheries enforcement agencies in developing countries. They also concluded that the best way to advance the network would be to build a coalition of like-minded countries and organizations that could potentially share the costs of and benefits from an enhanced MCS network. In addition, members agreed to establish a global information system on high seas fishing vessels in the form of a publicly-available international database of information relating to the global high seas fishing fleet. It was noted that this might form one of the core activities of the proposed MCS network.
On port state controls, it was agreed to promote the notion of a responsible port State as “a State that is committed to making the fullest possible use of its jurisdiction under international law in furtherance of its own rights and interests as well as the international community’s interest in conservation and management of high seas marine living resources.” Task Force members made a commitment to act as responsible port States, advocated the strengthening of port State control within RFMOs of which they are members, and agreed to commission an inventory and analysis of the current practice of States and RFMOs with respect to port State controls, which could then form a good basis for the development of the proposed FAO database on port State measures.
With regards to control over nationals, Task Force members endorsed the recommendations of the IPOA-IUU Fishing and committed to implement these recommendations to the extent permitted by national law. Meanwhile, on the issue of high seas governance, members agreed to support efforts to develop greater harmonization of measures between tuna RFMOs and initiatives to bring currently unregulated high seas fish stocks under international management. More information.