Port State Measures

Port state measures constitute an important tool to combat IUU activities, being requirements to which foreign fishing vessel must comply with in order to be allowed use of port.

The FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (FAO PSMA) was adopted by the FAO Conference in 2009.

Norway signed the Agreement in 2009 and ratified it in 2011.

The FAO PSMA can be found here: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/legal/docs/037t-e.pdf

Furthermore, Norway is a member to several RFMOs which have established port state control measures.

NEAFC

In accordance with the NEAFC Scheme of Control and Enforcement, all  foreign fishing vessels with catch on board of fisheries resources that have been caught in the NEAFC Convention Area and which have not been previously landed or transshipped at a port, shall forward a prior notification of entry into port. Before 1 July 2015 the requirements applied to frozen catch only. However, as of 1 July 2015, the scope of the port state measures is expanded to apply to fisheries resources regardless of whether they are fresh or frozen.

Fishing vessels flying the flag of a Contraction Party or a cooperation non-Contracting Party intending to call into a Norwegian Port, shall forward a prior notice at least 24 hours before estimated time of arrival is the vessel has onboard frozen fisheries resources. If the vessel has onboard fresh fish only, the prior notice shall be forwarded at least 4 hours before estimated time of arrival.

Non-Contracting Party vessels intending to call into a Norwegian port shall forward a prior notice at least 3 working days before estimated time of arrival.

Designated ports where landings, transshipments and other use of port may be permitted can be found here: https://psc.neafc.org/designated-contacts

Further details regarding the NEAFC port state control system can be found here: https://psc.neafc.org/psc-guides

NAFO

The Port State Control measures of NAFO apply to landings or transhipments in ports of Contracting Parties by foreign fishing vessels . The provisions apply to landing or transshipment of fish caught in the Regulatory Area, or fish products originating from such fish, that have not been previously landed or offloaded at a port.

Vessels carrying fish caught in the NAFO Regulatory Area intending to call into Norwegian port for landing shall forward a prior notice at least 3 working days before arrival into port.

Designated ports where landings, transshipments and other use of port may be permitted can be found here: https://www.nafo.int/Fisheries/PSC

ICCAT

Foreign vessels carrying tuna or tuna-like species caught in the ICCAT Convention Area shall request port entry by submitting the attached PSC 1 if the vessel is landing its own catch  or PSC 2 if the vessel has been engaged in transshipment operations. A copy of form PSC 2 shall be completed for each vessel from which fish has been transshipped. Vessels carrying both their own catch and fish transshipped from other vessels shall fill in both PSC 1 and PSC 2.

Designated ports where landings may take place can be found here: http://www.iccat.int/en/PortsRes.asp?selectCFlag=017&cajaPort=checkbox&cajaType=checkbox&selectOrder=1&selectOrder2=6&selectInterval=-1&Submit=Search

Prior notices/ PSC can be found here:

All boxes in Part A of the form shall be completed. In addition the vessel shall provide information regarding the purpose of the port call, as well as ICCAT fishing authorization or, where appropriate, any other authorization held by the vessel to support fishing operations on ICCAT species, or to transship ICCAT species. Completed forms are to be sent to the Norwegian Fisheries Monitoring Center by e-mail: fmc@fiskeridir.no .

The notification period for port entries by foreign vessels carrying tuna or tuna-like species is at least three days before arriving at the port of landing.

If the vessel is carrying tuna or tuna-like species which have been transshipped at sea, an ICCAT Transhipment Declaration shall be forwarded at least 48 hours before port entry.

The Norwegian FMC will forward the forms received to the flag state of the vessel for confirmation of Part B. If there is no information regarding contact points in the flag State on the ICCAT web pages, the vessel shall forward this information to the Norwegian FMC. According to section 13 of the regulations of 13 May it is prohibited for foreign vessels to land fish if the flag State does not give its confirmation by completing Part B of the forms or the Directorate of Fisheries does not accept the confirmation.