The FAO Fisheries Committee recently considered issues ranging from marine protected areas to fishing subsidies, while a Ministerial Meeting held immediately after the committee meeting adopted two fisheries-related declarations.

Some 600 participants attended the 26th session of the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries, held from 7-11 March 2005, in Rome, Italy. The Committee discussed a variety of issues, including progress in implementing the code of conduct for responsible fisheries and related international plans of action. Deep sea fisheries, marine protected areas, fisheries subsidies, and a strategic framework for human capacity development in fisheries were also considered.
Following the Committee meeting, a group of 121 fishing ministers and high-level fisheries officials met on 12 March to discuss tsunami-relief, as well as how to deepen international cooperation on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Ministers issued a joint declaration stressing the need to rebuild fisheries and aquaculture in tsunami-affected countries in a responsible and people-centered manner, and noting that rehabilitation should focus on restoring the livelihoods of fishers and fish farmers and on providing them with protection from future natural disasters and other environmental threats. The statement also emphasized the need to protect the rights of fishers and fish workers and ensure their access to fishing grounds and resources, particularly for those involved in subsistence, small-scale and artisanal fishing.
The Ministerial Meeting also adopted a second declaration calling for intensified action to combat IUU fishing. As a new step in anti-IUU efforts, the group called for the creation within FAO of a comprehensive global record of fishing vessels, including supply and refrigerated transport ships, to facilitate prevention of illegal fishing. Additionally, delegates said they would renew their efforts to ensure that all large-scale industrial fishing vessels operating on the high seas be fitted with vessel monitoring systems (VMS) by December 2008.
Links to further information
Governments call for responsible post-tsunami reconstruction of fisheries, pledge to combat illegal fishing, FAO press release, 14 March 2005
FAO Committee on Fisheries debates management challenges, old and new, FAO press release, 8 March 2005
FAO Fisheries website