The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

participation in the initiative has increased 
steadily, particularly in the FAO Regions of 
Europe, North America and, Latin America and 
the Caribbean. As at February 2020, 62 FAO 
Members had participated in the Global Record, 
consolidating in a single repository information on 
a total of 10 902 vessels – accounting for almost 
half of the global fleet with an IMO number 
eligible for inclusion in the Global Record.
Developments to the system are ongoing and will 
mainly look to improve system performance, 
usability, and upload mechanisms, and to create 
linkages with other relevant systems. In particular, 
these developments will seek to facilitate future 
exchange of information through automatic data 
upload mechanisms, including links with the IHS 
Maritime database, databases of regional fishery 
bodies, other existing regional and national 
databases, and the global information exchange 
system of the PSMA.
In 2017, FAO launched its Global Programme to 
Support the Implementation of the PSMA and 
Complementary International Instruments (the 
Programme). The Programme aims to contribute to 
national, regional and global efforts to prevent, deter 
and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated 
(IUU) fishing. It represents the overall framework within 
which FAO and its development partners articulate 
and mobilize coordinated actions in support of the 
implementation of port State measures. As at February 
2020, the Programme comprised ten projects with 
funding in excess of USD 16 million from the European 
Union, Iceland, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Spain, 
Sweden and the United States of America. 
As at February 2020, the Programme had 
supported: (i) 33 developing States in the formulation 
of national strategies and action plans for the 
implementation of the Agreement on Port State 
Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, 
Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA) and 
complementary international instruments to combat IUU 
fishing; (ii) 18 developing States to reformulate their 
national policies and legislation, and 13 developing 
States in updating their monitoring, control and 
surveillance (MCS) systems and procedures, in order to 
align with the requirement of the PSMA and 
complementary international instruments; 
(iii) 54 officials from 16 developing States to receive 
legal training in international fisheries law, and 
24 officials from 7 countries to receive MCS and port 
inspection training; and (iv) 4 States to receive 
national-level seminars on the PSMA. 
BOX 10
GLOBAL RECORD OF FISHING VESSELS
BOX 11
FAO GLOBAL PROGRAMME TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PSMA AND 
COMPLEMENTARY INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS
1
Eligible fishing vessels include all those above 24 m length overall (LOA), as well as those from 12 m LOA that are authorized to operate beyond waters of national jurisdiction.
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PART 2 
SUSTAINABILITY IN ACTION
PSMA. Nine RFBs, comprising Contracting Parties 
from 93 coastal States and the European Union, 
provided input to the survey. Six of the nine RFBs 
had already adopted conservation management 
measures (CMMs) concerning port State measures, 
most of which were identified as either mostly or 
fully aligned with the PSMA. Five of these six RFBs 
had also established the mechanisms to monitor 
compliance with these CMMs. Finally, three of the 
seven RFBs that have developing State Contracting