Implementing the Port State Measures Agreement to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the Caribbean

The Caribbean region is home to some of the world’s most biologically diverse marine resources, which inhabitants rely on for food and economic sustainability. To facilitate the management and conservation of these resources, international and regional fishery bodies have offered capacity building assistance to Caribbean countries, toward full implementation of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. Despite such assistance, less than one-third of Caribbean countries have signed the Agreement. Thus, the present Article provides a toolkit to implement the PSMA in the Caribbean, based on the requirements for implementation, and an assessment of the legal, human resource and financial capacity needs to meet such requirements