The International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) last month held a three-week competency-based International Fisheries Law Training Course at the Institute’s premises at the University of Malta’s Msida campus. The course reflected the FAO’s recognition of IMLI’s unique capacity-building expertise in drafting maritime legislation, which led the FAO to designate IMLI as a training partner. 

The aims of the training included capacity building in terms of knowledge in international fisheries law and governance, with an emphasis on the relevant FAO instruments such as the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing.

The course participants included senior officers from Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador and Panama who are working in the fisheries ministries or departments of their countries. The course was delivered by members of the IMLI faculty, FAO officers and other guest lecturers. Dr Ximena Hinrichs, deputy registrar of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, also delivered a lecture on Settlement of Disputes.

The course was inaugurated by Judge Óscar Cabello Sarubbi from Paraguay.

IMLI director Prof. David Attard welcomed the participants and said the course would enhance their knowledge in fisheries law and help them prepare national legislation for the adequate implementation of international fisheries instruments into domestic laws. He acknowledged with appreciation the collaboration with FAO which is contributing to the capacity-building of states in the field.

Matthew Camilleri, head of the Fishing Operations and Technology Branch of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy and Resources Division at the FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Department also addressed the participants, highlighting the importance of the course in enhancing the national capacity in the implementation and enforcement of international fisheries instruments.

The course was developed within the framework of FAO’s Global Capacity Development Programme to support the implementation of the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures.

Prof. Attard (centre) with Judge Óscar Cabello Sarubbi of Paraguay, FAO officers and the course participants.Prof. Attard (centre) with Judge Óscar Cabello Sarubbi of Paraguay, FAO officers and the course participants.

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