Practical guide
How to Read the FAO’s Fisheries Port-Inspection Update for 7–11 September 2026
COFI37 puts the Port State Measures Agreement, illegal-fishing controls and inspection data at the centre of the seafood-supply conversation. Here is how to read what those figures actually show.
Before you begin
Usa el informe de la FAO para distinguir los controles portuarios del PSMA, la participación de las partes, la actividad de inspección y las cifras de desarrollo de capacidades; no deduzcas garantías sobre productos concretos.The FAO’s 37th Committee on Fisheries session, known as COFI37, is scheduled to take place at the organization’s headquarters in Rome from 7–11 September 2026. To understand its relevance to seafood, start with the agreement being highlighted alongside the meeting: the Agreement on Port State Measures, or PSMA.
Begin with the port, not the product
The PSMA is the first legally binding international agreement aimed specifically at illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Its focus is the port. Under the agreement, parties commit to checking whether foreign vessels comply before allowing them to enter. The control therefore applies when a vessel seeks access to a designated port; it is not a general inspection claim about every fish product sold to consumers.
That distinction matters when reading seafood coverage. A port inspection is evidence of a control applied to a vessel’s access to port under the PSMA. It does not establish that every fish product has the same origin, inspection history or legal status. Keep the agreement’s specific scope attached to the claim being made.
Read the 2026 dates alongside the agreement’s growth
Before COFI37 opened, the FAO held a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the PSMA’s entry into force. The agreement now has 86 parties, representing 110 FAO Members. Moldova was welcomed as the most recent country to deposit its instruments of accession.
These details answer different questions. The number of parties and the accession by Moldova describe participation in the agreement. They do not measure how many inspections took place or how effective an individual inspection was. When a report mentions the PSMA, separate membership, inspection and implementation information instead of treating them as one indicator.
Keep the inspection total in proportion
More than 22,000 PSMA-related inspections are conducted each year in nearly 700 designated ports of the parties. That is a substantial operational figure, but its wording matters: it refers to inspections carried out in designated ports. It is not a complete count of all fisheries inspections worldwide, nor does it give the outcome of every inspection.
The FAO also reports that it has offered technical assistance and capacity building to more than 80 FAO Members. This shows that support for implementation is part of the wider effort. It does not mean that an identical inspection process operates in every port.
Why this matters for seafood coverage
Global fisheries and aquaculture production reached a record 235 million tonnes in 2024, according to the FAO. That figure shows the scale of the sector in which these controls operate. The PSMA gives the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing a defined point of intervention: a foreign vessel’s entry to port and the checks carried out there.
For readers assessing a new claim about seafood governance, first identify which signal it describes. Is it about port access, participation in the PSMA, inspection activity or implementation support? Those categories should not be merged. A report about the agreement can explain how illegal fishing is addressed at ports, but the figures in this update do not support a conclusion about the quality, taste, price or availability of a particular fish on sale.
What COFI37 is likely to put in focus
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu called for full implementation of the Bali Strategy, a 2023 roadmap intended to encourage further PSMA accessions and speed up the global exchange of inspection data. That creates a clear question around COFI37: whether wider participation and faster data exchange can extend the agreement’s practical reach.
The confirmed information supports a measured conclusion. The 2026 meeting marks continued international coordination around port controls against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, with broad participation, recurring inspections and capacity-building support. Those elements describe the system’s reach; they do not provide a product-level guarantee for shoppers.
When a seafood claim refers to this news, trace it to the exact PSMA element involved. If it concerns a vessel entering a designated port, the agreement is directly relevant. If it makes a broader claim about a product, separate evidence is needed before treating that product claim as equivalent to the port-control measures.