United Nations – High-level delegations of fisheries ministries from 50 countries are meeting in Agadir, Morocco, for a summit to discuss opportunities and challenges in the fishing sector, according to a statement.
The statement, issued by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), noted that the meeting, which begun on Monday, would end on Friday.
It stated that the biennial meeting was being held in Africa for the first time.
It noted that the delegates were discussing emerging governance needs in a sector that provided the world with 17 per cent of its animal protein and developing countries with more export revenue than meat, tobacco, rice and sugar combined.
The FAO statement added that the globalisation of fish trade, driven in large part by fast growth in aquaculture, raised challenging needs for better rules and practices regarding traceability, commercial preparations for shifts in demand, consumption habits and climate change impacts.
It said that work should also focus on harmonising certification requirements for fish exports to major international markets where consumers and retailers were becoming more alert to quality, safety and legality concerns.
It revealed that international fish trade and fishery products had doubled in a decade to 144 billion dollars in 2014 and that
out of that, lower-income nations together exported 78 billion dollars in 2014, more than three times the value of global rice export.
The Organisation quoted Mr Audun Lem, the Deputy-Director, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy Department, as saying that “trade in fish is much more important than people think, both in absolute and relative terms.”
It said dialogues over the week-long meeting in Morocco would help member countries and industry representatives understand new trends, and foster the development of strategies that could “best position developing countries to develop their fisheries sectors in a sustainable manner.
The meeting, it said, would also help member states to maximise their economic benefits from the growth they expected to witness.
Ministers are also expected to agree in Agadir on FAO’s proposed technical guidelines for catch documentation schemes, a set of documents testifying to the legal origin of the catch, facilitating traceability of the product throughout the supply chain.
This, it added, could become an important tool in curbing illegal fishing, a goal mandated by the UN General Assembly.
As fish production, processing and consumption often takes place in different countries, FAO said that international collaboration and harmonisation was critical to ensure success in this effort.
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It said that private sector engagement with a FAO project on catch documentation scheme had been unexpectedly high, reflecting industry interest in complying with sustainability goals.
It explained that central to the effort was FAO’s Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing which has now been ratified by 21 nations.
It said that it was on course to have the 25 national ratifications required to enter into full legal force by the time the Committee on Fisheries, a global intergovernmental forum would meet at FAO’s headquarters in July.
The statement said that much of the sector’s dynamism was due to aquaculture, whose output had more than tripled to 78 million tonnes over the past 20 years, making it the world’s fastest-growing food producing sector.
“While most fish farms are in Asia, aquaculture’s highest growth rates have of late been in Africa and South and Central America, where its marginal contribution to food security could be higher than elsewhere.
“Precisely, this is due to the fact that per-capita consumption of fish in these emerging regions has been traditionally low.’’
FAO said that one reason aquaculture had altered industry dynamics was that its production methods were typically far less seasonal and volatile than open-sea fishing.
This, it added, allowed for easier access to insurance or credit, there were now Salmon futures and even tailored solutions such as assuring the provision of fattier Salmon suitable for smoking.
FAO said that aquaculture, with its predictable rhythms and focus on more standardised products, also enabled a longer-term and more intensive approach to supply chains.
If managed efficiently, it said, food waste could be minimised and food safety enhanced, investments in cold-storage facilities incentivized, all enabling supermarkets to plan and guarantee procurement. (NAN)