Study Measures Countries’ Exposure to Illegal Catch, Actions to Keep It From Markets

Port State measures are a critical part of the potential solution to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, one of the biggest threats to ocean health. This illicit practice places pressure on the sustainability of the world’s fisheries and harms the economies of coastal nations that depend on healthy fish populations. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), in force since 2016, requires parties to strengthen their controls on foreign-flagged vessels that seek to use their ports to land or transship fish to prevent illicit catch from reaching national and international markets. Initiatives by the international community to help States implement the treaty have been hampered by limited outside knowledge about how States manage their ports, how vulnerable ports are to the risk of IUU products flowing through them, and how much progress States have made at combating this problem. “Any Port in a Storm: Vessel Activity and the Risk of IUU-Caught Fish Passing Through the World’s Most Important Fishing Ports,” a peer-reviewed study supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts and published in the Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics, shows where fishing and carrier vessel activity is concentrated and which States are most at risk of having illegally caught fish passing through their ports and, therefore, where more effective implementation of the PSMA would have the greatest impact. To quantify risk, researchers from Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management and OceanMind used Automatic Identification System (AIS) positional data transmitted by fishing and fish carrier vessels in 2017 to rank fishing ports in 140 coastal States based on the frequency of visits by foreign- and domestic-flagged vessels and the vessels’ hold size. They also created an assessment tool that uses indicators of internal and external risk factors to help gauge the likelihood of IUU-caught fish arriving in port and whether the State has sufficient policies and regulations in place to keep foreign vessels carrying this catch from entering port or using port services. An analysis of select individual ports found that not a single one has implemented all key PSMA provisions and that there is room for improvement all over the world. This process could begin with greater transparency of what measures port States have put in place and how effectively they are being enforced. Las medidas del Estado Rector del Puerto son un aspecto fundamental de la posible solución a la pesca ilegal, no declarada y no reglamentada (INDNR), una de las mayores amenazas para la salud oceánica. Esta práctica ilegal ejerce presión sobre la sostenibilidad de las pesquerías de todo el mundo y perjudica las economías de naciones costeras que dependen de poblaciones de peces sanos. El Acuerdo sobre Medidas del Estado Rector del Puerto (AMERP) de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura, en vigor desde 2016, exige que las partes fortalezcan sus controles sobre los buques de bandera extranjera que intenten utilizar los puertos para descargar o transbordar pescado a fin de evitar que la pesca ilícita llegue a los mercados nacionales e internacionales. Las iniciativas de la comunidad internacional para ayudar a los Estados a implementar el tratado se han visto obstaculizadas por los limitados conocimientos externos sobre cómo los Estados administran sus puertos, qué tan vulnerables son los puertos al riesgo de que circulen productos de la pesca INDNR a través de ellos, y cuánto han avanzado los Estados para combatir este problema. “Any Port in a Storm: Vessel Activity and the Risk of IUU-Caught Fish Passing Through the World’s Most Important Fishing Ports” (Cualquier puerto en la tormenta: la actividad de los buques y el riesgo de que el producto de la pesca ilegal, no declarada y no reglamentada pase a través de los puertos pesqueros más importantes del mundo), un estudio con arbitraje científico financiado por The Pew Charitable Trusts y publicado en la revista Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics, muestra dónde se encuentra concentrada la actividad de los buques pesqueros y cargueros, y qué Estados se encuentran en mayor riesgo de recibir productos de la pesca ilegal a través de sus puertos. Por lo tanto, también muestra dónde una implementación más eficaz del AMERP tendría el mayor impacto