The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today that Morocco has joined the worldwide effort to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by joining the international agreement that forbids boats engaged in this practice from entering ports.
Following the endorsement of Morocco, who joined the coalition Friday along with Angola, Eritrea, and Nigeria, there are now 100 nations that back this alliance that aims “to prevent, dissuade, and eliminate IUU fishing,” according to an FAO press release.
“Angola, Eritrea, Morocco, and Nigeria are the latest countries to back the PSMA. Now 60 percent of port States globally, are committed to the agreement, which is a binding international instrument to combat IUU fishing,” FAO said.
IUU fishing is responsible for one out of every five fish caught around the world each year, endangering the sustainability of national, regional, and global fisheries as well as the preservation of marine ecosystems.
“We need to work together to step up port controls and adequate information exchange through the implementation of the PSMA. This will contribute to transforming aquatic food systems and maximize their role as drivers of employment, economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability,” Manuel Barange, director of FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, was quoted as saying in the statement.
FAO has so far assisted over 50 countries in revising their legislation, strengthening institutional capacity, improving monitoring, control, and surveillance systems and operations, effectively implementing port state measures, and fulfilling their international responsibilities as flag, coastal, and market States.
Morocco has a coastal zone of approximately 1.12 million square kilometers that is one of the richest in the world in terms of fisheries, but the country’s fishing sector faces several challenges related to improving production while considering sustainability and fisheries conservation, despite the fact that the sector has grown in recent years.
In 2009, the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture launched the Alliotis Plan, the country’s first integrated strategy for the fishing and aquaculture sectors, with the goal of modernizing and improving the marine sector’s competitiveness.
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