Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council has given approval for accession to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA).

When the ratification process is complete, Nigeria will join the other five Member States of the FCWC region Cote d’Ivoire (September 2019), Benin (June 2019), Liberia (May 2019), Ghana (November 2016), and Togo (December 2016) as parties to the agreement.

Upon receiving the news, FCWC Secretary-General Seraphin Dedi stated that “we thank our colleagues in Nigeria for securing this resounding endorsement of our region-wide efforts. Nigeria ratifying the PSMA is a result that would crown all our collaborative efforts to tackle and stop illegal fishing. The implementation of the PSMA as a region through the system it provides will exponentially increase our removal of illegally caught fish and reduce access for illegal actors.”

The PSMA prevents, deters and eliminates IUU fishing by preventing vessels engaged in IUU fishing from using ports and landing their catches. It reduces the incentive of such vessels to continue to operate while it also blocks fishery products derived from illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing from reaching national and international markets.