Intelligence-Led Fisheries Port Controls
Pilot Phase Program Report
Overview
All fish caught by industrial fishing vessels must, at some point, pass through a port in order to be landed and enter into the post-vessel seafood supply chain to reach market States. Ports are often the last checkpoint where fish can be clearly linked to the vessel that caught it, and therefore offer one of the best and most cost-effective opportunities to identify, prosecute, and deter illegal fishing.
Between 2021-2023 TMT and Global Fishing Watch delivered technical assistance to four African States in the form of analysis, tools, and capacity training aimed at supporting national efforts for implementing the Port State Measures Agreement, with a particular focus on the Advanced Request for Entry to Port, or AREP, process.
The pilot program, “Intelligence-Led Fisheries Port Controls,” which came to an end in 2023, is summarized in a new report highlighting its key activities, achievements and lessons learned.
A new report summarizes work carried out during a pilot program, “Intelligence-Led Fisheries Port Controls,” which included the development and testing of and key tools that support the operational implementation of the Port State Measures Agreement.
The report includes:
- Introduction & background
- Program rationale
- Program design, funders and partners
- The Advance Request for Entry to Port
- Supporting a risk-based approach to implementing the Port State Measures Agreement
- Description of port use to better understand illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing risks
- Port Profiles for Abidjan, Dakar, Tema and Mombasa
- Arming fisheries inspectors with vessel information
- Capacity building to improve knowledge on the Port State Measures Agreement and new tools
- Lessons learned and next steps
The pilot program allowed for the development and testing of key tools supporting the operational implementation of the Port State Measures Agreement, namely Vessel Viewer and the Port Profiles.
But beyond that, it provided a platform to assist countries in developing and implementing an inspection regime of foreign fishing vessels based on a robust AREP process. It also allowed national fisheries authorities to put into practice new skills on pre-port entry analysis and vessel inspection. And above all, it allowed pilot countries to fully realize, through real-life cases, the importance of cooperation with other flag, coastal and port States to cross-check information supplied by vessel operators and detect possible occurrences of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Acknowledgements
TMT and Global Fishing Watch would like to acknowledge and thank the Governments of Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Senegal, and particularly all the individual representatives of those governments who are active focal points for the programme and work so hard towards broader implementation of the Port State Measures Agreement in their ports.
We acknowledge and thank the important role and contributions of the FCWC in the program’s success. We also extend thanks to the Oak Foundation, Norad, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, and Oceans 5 for their funding support to various countries and components of programme implementation.