Port State Measures: Keeping Illegally Caught Fish out of SADC Markets (SADC Policy Brief)
Date of Publication
2021 12:00 AM
Security Theme
IUU Fishing
Keywords
IUU Fishing, IUU fishing, port supervision, SADC states, regional efforts, transport vessels
Description
Sea ports are critical for fisheries operations as well as for the import and export of fishery products. Fishing vessel operators that catch fish and seafood use ports to unload their catch for sale, processing, or onward transport. They then resupply their vessels with the provisions needed to return to sea and continue catching. Transport vessel operators use ports to load and unload frozen or processed fish and seafood to transport it to global destinations. Vessels used include refrigerated cargo vessels known as reefers and container vessels and general cargo or container vessels. Industrially caught fish and seafood will almost certainly have passed through one or more ports, either in fishing or transport vessels, before it is consumed. These ports provide an operational bottleneck, offering an opportunity for fisheries management authorities to check information before allowing a vessel to enter port, and inspect fishing vessels and catches in port, before allowing the fish to be offloaded from the vessel. Applying these checks and inspections enables authorities to assess if fishing has taken place legally – with the correct authorisations and in compliance to the applicable rules and regulations – this process is known as applying Port State measures.
Port State Measures: Keeping Illegally Caught Fish out of SADC Markets (SADC Policy Brief)
Sea ports are critical for fisheries operations as well as for the import and export of fishery products. Fishing vessel operators that catch fish and seafood use ports to unload their catch for sale, processing, or onward transport. They then resupply their vessels with the provisions needed to return to sea and continue catching. Transport vessel operators use ports to load and unload frozen or processed fish and seafood to transport it to global destinations. Vessels used include refrigerated cargo vessels known as reefers and container vessels and general cargo or container vessels. Industrially caught fish and seafood will almost certainly have passed through one or more ports, either in fishing or transport vessels, before it is consumed. These ports provide an operational bottleneck, offering an opportunity for fisheries management authorities to check information before allowing a vessel to enter port, and inspect fishing vessels and catches in port, before allowing the fish to be offloaded from the vessel. Applying these checks and inspections enables authorities to assess if fishing has taken place legally – with the correct authorisations and in compliance to the applicable rules and regulations – this process is known as applying Port State measures.
