Feasibility study on the expansion to phases 2 and 3 of the global record of fishing vessels, refrigerated transport vessels and supply vessels

Abstract

The Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels (Global Record) is a phased and collaborative global initiative to make available, in a rapid way, certified data from State authorities about vessels and vesselrelated activities. The programme aims towards providing a single access point for information on vessels used for fishing and fishing-related activities with the primary objective being to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by enhancing transparency and traceability. Given the difficulties that large number of fishing vessels could generate in the usability of the Information System and in the allocation of reliable International Maritime Organization (IMO) numbers to existing fishing vessels, a feasibility study was conducted. This feasibility study aims to identify key criteria and mínimum requirements to minimize the number of fishing vessels that will be needed to increase the usability of the system without undermining its main objective of fighting (IUU) fishing by means of enhancing transparency. The main challenges encountered were the important and numerous gaps related with the current global number of fishing vessels which strongly undermines transparency. Several circumstances as the reluctance of some Flag States to report vessel numbers and a high number of Regional Bodies with no harmonization of databases what difficult data aggregation, among others. Preliminary results emerge that criteria such as vessels fishing activities in High Seas or other Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), type of vessel and historical IUU fishing activities reported, could be used to define a minimum length boundary of inclusion. Nevertheless, a complementary study should be realized by the company IHSM&T, in charge of managing the IMO Ship Identification Number Scheme, to determine their issuing capacity to allocate IMO numbers to existing fishing vessels.