This first meeting covered the concerns of developing states in implementing the Port State Measures Agreement. It emphasized the need to link individual and institutional capacity building, and to ensure that funding mechanisms include contribution schemes toward an Assistance Fund.

This document contains the report of the first meeting of the Parties to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing held in Oslo, Norway, from 29 to 31 May 2017. The Parties agreed that FAO assumes the role of Secretariat for the meeting. The need for concerted action by port States, flag States and other States in the implementation of the Agreement, together with the important role of FAO, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and other international organizations and bodies, was recognized. The Parties noted the value of drawing lessons from existing relevant initiatives of RFMOs and other international organizations. The Parties agreed that a staged approach should be adopted with regards to data exchange and called for the establishment of an open-ended technical working group to provide guidance on the development of data exchange mechanisms. FAO was tasked with developing templates for reporting of information on national contact points, designated ports and other relevant information for the implementation of the Agreement, and to publish the information through a dedicated section within the FAO website. The Parties established the Working Group under Part 6 of the Agreement and its terms of reference were adopted. The Parties called upon the Secretariat to develop a specific web-based questionnaire for the purpose of monitoring implementation of the Agreement, as well as recording challenges faced, which is to be completed every two years initially. The Secretariat was also requested to prepare draft Rules of Procedure for meetings of the Parties and any subsidiary working groups based on the General Rules of the FAO, and relevant rules of the Committee on Fisheries, for consideration at the next meeting of the Parties. The Parties agreed to hold meetings every two years along with supplementary technical meetings as required.

This document contains the report of the first meeting of the Strategy ad hoc Working Group (SWG) established by the Parties to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement or the PSMA), held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, from 3 to 7 April 2023. It was attended by 55 Parties to the Agreement, and by observers from 23 States, 11 intergovernmental, 5 international non-governmental organizations and one specialized agency from the United Nations (UN). In line with its Terms of Reference adopted by the Parties, the SWG discussed aspects to improve the effectiveness of the PSMA, namely in relation to increasing adherence to the Agreement, the fulfilment of Parties’ responsibilities, mechanisms for the monitoring, review and assessment of the implementation of the Agreement, as well as resources required for the sustainable functioning of the Agreement. On the basis of the discussions and on the consolidated recommendations emanating from the four PSMA regional coordination meetings convened in 2022, the SWG developed a draft Strategy to Improve the Effectiveness of the PSMA and agreed to put it forward for consideration at the Fourth Meeting of Parties (MoP4).

This document contains the report of the fourth meeting of the Part 6 Working Group established by the Parties to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement or the PSMA), held in Rome, Italy, on 4 April 2023. The Part 6 Working Group discussed the requirements of developing States in the implementation of the PSMA, and made concrete recommendations on priority areas for technical assistance and capacity development. The Part 6 Working Group also discussed the status of implementation of the Terms of Reference for the Funding Mechanisms under Part 6 of the PSMA, and noted the need to increase funding to assist developing States in the implementation of the Agreement through, among others: (i) earmarked contributions to FAO for specific project(s) and programme(s); (ii) contributions to the multilateral partner PSMA Part 6 Trust Fund administered by FAO.

The Parties reviewed the status of the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (“the Agreement” or PSMA) and recalled the decisions of the Third Meeting of the Parties. Progress and challenges in the implementation of the Agreement by Parties were discussed and the important role of regional fisheries bodies (RFBs), in particular regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), in supporting the implementation of the Agreement was highlighted. The Parties agreed on the operationalization of the Global Information Exchange System by the end of 2023 and adopted the Terms of Reference for the Technical Working Group on Information Exchange. The Parties emphasized that assistance to developing States Parties is critical for the effective implementation of the Agreement, and reiterated the need to make the multilateral-partner PSMA Part 6 Trust Fund administered by FAO operational. The Parties adopted A Strategy to Improve the Effectiveness of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (the “Bali Strategy”). The Parties also agreed that the Terms of Reference of the PSMA Strategy ad hoc Working Group be modified to include the task of monitoring the effective implementation of the Agreement. The amended questionnaire for the Parties for the review and assessment of the effectiveness of the PSMA, together with the new questionnaire for RFBs and other international organizations, were adopted. The programme of work was discussed and the Parties agreed on a schedule of PSMA meetings.

Should states intervene in situations outside of their own territory in order to safeguard or promote the common good? In this book, Cedric Ryngaert addresses this key question, looking at how the international law of state jurisdiction can be harnessed to serve interests common to the international community. The author inquires how the purpose of the law of jurisdiction may shift from protecting national interests to furthering international concerns, such as those relating to the global environment and human rights. Such a shift is enabled by the instability of the notion of jurisdiction, as well as the interpretative ambiguity of the related notions of sovereignty and territoriality. There is no denying that, in the real world, 'selfless intervention' by states tends to combine with more insular considerations. This book argues, however, that such considerations do not necessarily detract from the legitimacy of unilateralism, but may precisely serve to trigger the exercise of jurisdiction in the common interest.

The Thirty-third Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) was held in Rome, Italy, from 9 to 13 July 2018. This is a report of the Session reflecting the discussions which took place and containing all recommendations and decisions taken by the Committee. A synopsis of the outcome of the Session is presented in the abstract and all supplementary information is included in the appendixes.