FAO.org

Twenty-five fisheries inspectors, from Asia and the Pacific, can now use new skills acquired after following an intensive course organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

The FAO International course on fisheries port inspections in support of the Agreement on Port State Measures allowed officials from Bangladesh, China, Fiji, India, Maldives, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Tonga to strengthen their capacities in delivering their day-to-day responsibilities.

The 25 officers acquired detailed working knowledge of the international legal frameworks which support the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) and are now fully capable to prepare in detail and carry out actual PSMA inspections, in an ethical, effective, and efficient manner.

Over three weeks, FAO officials, international experts and representatives from fisheries institutions of the Republic of Korea gave lectures and practical exercises on public international law, the Law of the Sea, fisheries law, fisheries management, international instruments to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance, inspection procedures and methodology, as well as training about FAO information technology systems which can further assist them in their work.

This intensive course forms part of the Global Training Programme developed by FAO under its Global Capacity Development Programme to support the implementation of the PSMA. The course was delivered from 12 to 30 May 2025 at the FAO PSMA Busan Training Hub in the Republic of Korea.

This is the sixth time that FAO delivered this course since the development of the Global Training Programme, and the second time at the FAO PSMA Busan Training Hub since its setup in 2024.

Funding for this course was provided by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, with the technical support of the Pukyong National University, and the Overseas Fisheries Cooperation Center.