The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) is expanding its Port State Control system to apply to use of ports by foreign vessels carrying fresh fish and their products.
For almost a decade, the system has been successfully applied to all landings of frozen fish products by foreign vessels. The flag State of the landing vessel is used to certify that it is authorised to fish and has the quota available, before the landing is allowed.
The system has helped ports ensure that they are not being used to support Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. It has also helped flag states ensure that their vessels are not landing catches without having them properly registered and counted against any applicable quotas.
Because the port state is also obligated to carry out inspections of a minimum proportion of the landings, the system has been considered to be very successful as a tool in the fight against IUU fisheries.
By expanding the scope of the system, NEAFC said that it will become more aligned with the 2009 FAO Port State Measures Agreement and the FAO Agreement. However, the NEAFC system will continue to go well beyond the minimum requirements of the FAO Agreement in several areas.
The NEAFC is a regional fisheries management organisation (RFMO) which has the international legal mandate to regulate fisheries in the high seas of the North East Atlantic. NEAFC’s Contracting Parties are Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Union, Iceland, Norway and the Russian Federation.
