All this week from 8 to 12 pm I’m attending the Third Meeting of the Parties of the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) #PSMAMOP3 being hold virtually. I’m supporting my friend and colleague Sam on some technical issues, yet I’m totally proud of his statement, presented below.
STATEMENT BY SAMUEL K. LANWI, JR.
DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE
PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS TO THE UN OFFICE & OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN GENEVA
Third Meeting of the Parties to the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures
31 May 2021
Agenda Item 3: Status of the PSMA
Thank you Chair,
Having the second busiest port in the world in terms of frequency of port calls by foreign fishing vessels, with over 450 tuna transhipments carried out each year prior to the pandemic, the Republic of the Marshall Islands considers efficient fit-for-purpose Port State Measures as fundamental to our obligations as a responsible Coastal State, Port State, and Flag State.
We continue to support the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measure and have been building our national capacity to ensure that our operational capabilities are aligned with the PSMA to which we are planning to become a party over the next 12 months as we continue to strengthen our reporting capacity.
Having said that, we look forward to learning more about the capabilities of the PSMA Global Information Exchange System (GIES) and its practical applications across the board.
Chair,
In our view, high seas transhipments and Port State Measures are intrinsically linked, so we welcome the ratification of the PSMA by members that have fishing fleets operating in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean and further encourage them to uphold their commitments, under Article 20, Paragraph 3 of the PSMA which states: “Each Party shall encourage vessels entitled to fly its flag to land, tranship, package and process fish, and use other port services, in ports of States that are acting in accordance with, or in a manner consistent with this Agreement.”
For our part, even though we are not yet a Party to the PSMA at this stage, we have been actively working to build and further strengthen our operational and reporting capacity in a consistent manner in line with the PSMA which has given us the advantage of learning by doing and observing lessons learnt thus far by PSMA Parties.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands look forward to actively participating in the FAO's planned expert consultation and voluntary guidelines on transhipments over the next 2 years, as we consider standardization of terminology and practices as key to our collective PSMA responsibilities.
I thank you Chair.
