CMM 2024-03, adopted by the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), establishes binding rules to monitor, report, and verify transshipments and other transfer activities involving fisheries resources in the NPFC Convention Area to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. The measure requires that only vessels listed on the NPFC Vessel Registry may conduct transshipments and prohibits vessels from acting as both offloading and receiving vessels on the same trip, while operations under national jurisdiction require authorization from the relevant coastal or port State. It mandates detailed electronic reporting—including advance notifications, modifications, cancellations, and post-operation declarations covering all species—along with onboard and annual records, and suspension of transshipments if vessel monitoring systems fail. All information is compiled in the NPFC Transshipment Record maintained by the Secretariat, enabling secure data sharing with Members, port inspectors, and other regional fisheries bodies, while supporting compliance monitoring, public aggregated reporting, procedures for exceptional circumstances, and periodic review of the system.
2024-07-24