FAO marks ten years of the Port State Measures Agreement against illegal fishing

On Sept. 4, 2026, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations briefed regional fishery-body secretariats in Rome on the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) as the treaty marks ten years since it entered into force. The briefing sat inside the 11th session of the Regional Fishery Body Secretariats Network, ahead of the 37th Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI37).

The PSMA is the first binding international treaty aimed at IUU fishing. Port states deny landing and services to vessels that cannot show a legal catch. FAO’s update focused on the PSMA Global Information Exchange System (GIES) — the shared watchlist that lets a port in one ocean see a denial issued in another.

Alicia Mosteiro of the PSMA Secretariat told the room why GIES matters to regional bodies: coordinated implementation, not another paper pledge. Ten years in, the agreement only works if ports actually talk to each other. That is the part worth watching out of COFI37 — whether more governments use the system, not whether another communiqué names IUU fishing.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO updates regional fishery bodies on PSMA developments at RSN meeting, Sept. 4, 2026.