1. Gary Orr Compliance Operations Manager
Document Fraud
&
Port State Measures Agreement
Gary Orr
Compliance Operations Manager
I will be talking this morning on two topics which do overlap, document fraud on IUU vessels and the Port State measures agreement from a practitioners perspective.
Let me turn first to document fraud.

2. Document Fraud on IUU vessels
Document fraud is a major feature for vessels engaging in IUU fishing. It is not unique to those vessels commonly referred to as Illegals, but can also be found in licenced vessels involved in Unreported and Unregulated fishing.
For these latter vessels, the fraud usually manifests in catch returns that under declare the amount of fish caught, misrepresent the location of where the fish was caught or the species and non-declaration of bycatch. Often such fraud is unsophisticated and robust MCS programmes coupled with embarked government observers can mitigate much of this type of fraud.

3. Document Fraud on IUU vessels
However, when it comes to vessels that are operating as Illegals, the type of fraud is more sophisticated and consequently harder to detect.
These vessels will often represent that they are flagged to a particular state when in fact that is not the case. They will have documentation that prima facie shows that they are flagged as asserted but experience has shown that enquiries with the state often reveal that the vessel is either not currently flagged or it has never been flagged.
A common modus operandi is to initiate a registration process with a state so as to obtain official documentation with a letterhead and return address on it and then using computer software, often installed in the onboard computers, generate documentaion that appears to be genuine registration documentation.
The same process is undertaken to generate fishing permits. There have been instances where vessels have presented high seas fishing permits and when the bona fides of these permits have been checked, the alleged issuing state has confirmed that they do not in fact issue permits to vessels flying their flag to fish beyond their EEZ.

4. Document Fraud on IUU vessels
These vessels will also misreport the species and where the fish were caught. Misrepresentation of species is often done to avoid paying higher levies or tariffs when landing the fish and will often constitute Customs and/or taxation fraud whilst hiding the true location of where the fish was caught is often done to legitimise what would normally be considered illegal catch.
As well as manufacturing their own documentation, at least one IUU vessel was recently found to have a range of stamps on board so that it could create its own versions of official documentation.

5. Port State Measures Agreement
I now turn to the Port State Measures Agreement or PSMA as it’s more commonly known. I am not a lawyer and there are many people here today that will know the provisions of this agreement far better than I.
I said at the start of the presentation, I want to talk to you about the PSMA from a practitioners perspective and how we will actually make this thing work.
Agreements such as this are developed by highly qualified legal minds but it is up to the law enforcement officers, the fisheries officers, to make sure that such agreements actually work.
The PSMA came into force on the 5th of June 2016.
As we all know, the main purpose of the PSMA, is to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing through the implementation of robust port state measures.
PSMA is principally aimed at foreign flagged vessels entering your port

6. St Vincent & the Grenadines United States of America
Angola
European Union
Kenya
Samoa
Grenada
Iceland
Cabo Verde
Cuba
Peru
Oman
New Zealand
France
Costa Rica
Mauritius
Sudan
Sri Lanka
Benin
Ghana
Uruguay
Indonesia
Myanmar
Barbados
Republic of Korea
Turkey
Palau
Chile
Guinea
Mozambique
Seychelles
St Kitts & Nevis
Guyana
South Africa
As at the 30th of August, there were 47 signatories to the PSMA with a number of those countries represented in the room today.
Russian Federation
Ghana
Australia
Gabon
Tonga
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Dominica
Vanuatu
Canada
St Vincent & the Grenadines
United States of America
Thailand
Norway
Gambia
Brazil

7. Port State Measures Agreement
The PSMA applies to foreign flagged vessels seeking port entry with some exceptions.
PSMA is not something that stands alone and it should be integrated with your existing port state controls as well as any other measures designed to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing, for example the FAO 2001 IPOA on IUU

8. Port State Measures Agreement
It is essential to the success of PSMA, just as it is with other arrangements of this nature, that parties to the agreement cooperate and exchange information.

9. Port State Measures Agreement
Ports of entry must be designated and sufficient capacity/capability must exist within such ports to effectively implement both port state controls and PSMA.
By designating ports of entry, countries with limited capacity can control the movement of foreign flagged vessels into their ports and maintain effective monitoring of those vessels, deploying their limited resources to locations where they can have the best effect

10. Port State Measures Agreement
Vessels seeking port entry are required to provide a significant amount of information prior to entering port.
While the time period for providing the information is not specified in the PSMA, it must be such that the port state has sufficient time to consider the information.
Many port states have implemented a 48 hour notification requirement

11. Port State Measures Agreement
The port state is not obliged to permit entry.
There is a perception that if the vessel is suspected of IUU fishing then it must be denied access in accordance with Aarticle 9.4 of the agreement
However Article 9.5 is clear that port entry can be approved to allow for a thorough inspection and investigation if relevant

12. Port State Measures Agreement
The inspection and/or investigation can extend to state agencies other than fisheries, because the vessel has voluntarily entered port and submitted itself to the jurisdiction of those state agencies. It is for that reason that I would strongly encourage you to allow suspect vessels into your port.
Vessel inspections should be prioritised against risk or in accordance with requests from other parties, states or RFMO’s
All inspections must be reported to the flag state in the approved format
Having allowed a vessel into port, the port state is entitled to deny acces to port Services or to offload any fish on board the vessel.
There are exception to this and the port state is required to notify the flag state in such a case.

13. Port State Measures Agreement
If the vessel is believed on reasonable grounds to have engaged in IUU fishing, the flag state is required to immediately investigate and take enforcement action

14. Port State Measures Agreement
As I said earlier, IUU vessels are not just going to present with illegally caught fish, they are likely to misrepresent the species and value of the fish in order to conceal their activity but also to evade the payment of relevant levies or tariffs.
The vessel will also likely have forged documentation on board that purports to permit fishing in an EEZ or on the high seas as well as forged or fraudulently altered registration documentation.

15. Port State Measures Agreement
If a vessel voluntarily enters your port then it submits to the jurisdiction of ALL of your domestic laws such as
Fisheries
Customs
Maritime
This is the key point I want to leave you with.
The vessel has submitted to your jurisdiction by entering your port and so long as you operate within your legal boundaries, then you can exercise the full powers of the state to determine the legality of the vessel and its catch as well as the authenticity of documentation tendered to port authorities and other government agencies
Taxation
Criminal