Annual Report

Stop Illegal Fishing Annual Report 2018

On the 5th June 2018, Stop Illegal Fishing joined the international fisheries community to celebrate the inaugural International Day for the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This was the first time the world observed an official day promoting awareness of the need to combat illegal fishing. The date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the date that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) came into force in 2016.

The PSMA is the first binding international agreement that specifically targets IUU fishing. So far 55 States
and the European Union have become Parties to the Agreement, 21 of these being African States. African ports are particularly critical to the global implementation of port State measures and Stop Illegal Fishing will focus support on building expertise to identify, inspect and investigate vessels that have been operating illegally. At the Our Ocean Conference 2018, held in Indonesia, Stop Illegal Fishing announced our commitment to support the implementation of port State measures in Africa.

At a personal level, I am delighted that Stop Illegal Fishing can work to support the implementation of the PSMA. My experience conducting port inspections in Mozambique demonstrated the importance of having knowledgeable and well-trained inspectors; these are the people who have the difficult job of analysing an array of information in a short space of time to see whether records and documents support the claims
of the vessel captain. The PSMA not only requires that vessels must provide advance notice for port entry, giving officials a greater opportunity to identify high-risk vessels, but it also helps build stronger collaboration between national agencies, which in turn will lead to improved targeting of resources and more effective inspections and investigations when illegal fishing is suspected.

Elsa Patria, Chairperson of Stop Illegal Fishing