After five days of talks at the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Rome headquarters, representatives from more than 80 countries created general outlines to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The international agreement would deny vessels engaged in IUU fishing access to fishing ports.
Once the agreement is activated, fishing vessels worldwide will be required to request permission from specially designed landing ports, transmitting information about the fish on board to give authorities the opportunity to assess and detect possible IUU fishing prior to docking.
The designated landing ports will also be equipped to undertake vessel inspections, and information-sharing networks will be set up to enable countries to deny port access to any vessel previously involved in IUU fishing.
Final details will be ironed out during additional FAO meetings at a later date.
The negotiations began following a March 2007 decision by 131 countries attending FAO's biennial Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.
