The International MCS Network is pleased to convene its first virtual Global Fisheries Enforcement Training Workshop (GFETW) on July 13 and 14, 2021.  Due to the pandemic the in-person meeting of the 7th GFETW has been postponed until 2022.

The theme for the 2021 virtual GFETW is:

“UNCOVERING THE UNKNOWNS” 

Global Cooperation to Eliminate “the U’s” in Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing”

There is increasing global recognition that a heightened emphasis placed on addressing the ‘Illegal’ facet of IUU fishing can result in an MCS landscape where those non-compliant fishing activities that comprise the ‘Unreported’ and ‘Unregulated’ facets of IUU fishing are not given an enforcement emphasis commensurate with their risk of occurrence.

The ‘Illegal’ facets of IUU fishing are those domestic or foreign-flagged vessels which operate in waters without the permission of that State or in contravention of its laws and regulations. ‘Unreported’ fishing activities include those where catch and effort have not been reported or are misreported to management authorities. ‘Unregulated’ fishing activities are those that occur in waters under the competence of a relevant RFMO that are conducted either by vessels without nationality, by those flying the flag of a State not party to that RFMO, or by a fishing entity in a manner that is not consistent with the conservation and management measures established by that RFMO. ‘Unregulated’ fishing activities also occur in waters where no applicable conservation or management measures have been implemented.

Fisheries enforcement regimes must persistently evolve and improve upon the MCS ‘tools’ used by compliance and enforcement officers to ensure they are able to continually illuminate and effectively address the “the U’s”. IUU fishing is a low-risk, high-reward activity, especially on the high seas where a fragmented legal framework and lack of effective enforcement allows it to thrive. As such, illegal fishers continually develop adaptive non-compliant strategies, advance counter-surveillance techniques, and opportunistically use loopholes in international and domestic law in their attempts to ensure continued high financial returns from their illicit activities. Enforcement regimes must also be equally adaptive to be responsive to these strategies.

Participation is free of charge, but attendees must register online and be vetted to confirm their link or relationship to State departments and Ministries of fisheries, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), regional fisheries bodies (RFBs), regional economic institutions, or other relevant MCS organizations or entities.

Applications can be submitted through Eventbrite and must be received by 1 July, 2021.  To submit a presentation for consideration, please send an abstract by 15 May,  2021.

The International MCS Network is a voluntary and informal organization whose membership has grown to include 67 member States, the European Union, two RFMOs (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), and one RFB (Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency).

For more information go to http://gfetw.org/