Recommendation GFCM/33/2009/7 concerning minimum standards for the establishment of a vessel monitoring system in the GFCM area of application. Country/Territory Document type Regulation Date 2009 Source FAO, FAOLEX Subject Fisheries Keyword Fishery management and conservation Enforcement/compliance Marine fisheries International organization Fishing vessel Foreign fishing Monitoring Abstract This Recommendation lays down rules to contribute to the long-term conservation and management of marine living resources in the GFCM area of application through the establishment of Vessel Monitoring System. This Recommendation shall only apply to fishing vessels which are operating within the GFCM area of application and, in particular, to the fishing vessels which are included in the GFCM authorized vessels list. Each contracting party and cooperating non-contracting party shall ensure that the satellite tracking devices fitted on board fishing vessels shall enable those fishing vessels to continuously collect and transmit automatically the following data to the fisheries monitoring centre in the flag state. Masters and/or owners/licensees of fishing vessels subject to VMS shall ensure that the satellite tracking devices on board their vessels are permanently operational. Moreover, when contracting parties and cooperating non-contracting parties have reasons to doubt the correctness of the data transmission they have received and suspect that the fishing vessel concerned will seek access to the ports of a third country within the GFCM area of application, they shall notify the port state. The port state shall ensure either that the fishing vessel is denied access to its ports or that the fishing vessel is subject to inspection. The GFCM Secretariat shall establish and maintain a database for Vessel Monitoring System data. Full text English Website www.fao.org