The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) reported that the Steering Committee of the Fisheries and Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS), which aims to provide access to a wide range of high-quality information on the global monitoring and management of fishery marine resources in support of decision making, has decided to widen FIRMS' scope to include socioeconomic issues.
13 February 2013: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has reported that the Steering Committee of the Fisheries and Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS), which aims to provide access to a wide range of high-quality information on the global monitoring and management of fishery marine resources in support of decision making, has decided to widen FIRMS’ scope to include socioeconomic issues.
According to FAO, during the recent FIRMS Steering Committee meeting, held at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, participants considered how to widen the partnership’s scope to include a socioeconomic dimension within the system. FIRMS currently covers over 1200 fishery stocks and will now also focus on management information.
As a result, participants decided to change the name of FIRMS to the Fisheries and Resources Monitoring System. Participants initiated this change because they felt that the former name (Fishery Resource Monitoring Systems) limited perceptions of the actual scope of fishery resources and did not provide enough insight into the many elements of fisheries and fisheries management.
The FIRMS Secretariat is provided by FAO. [FIRMS Website] [IISDRS Sources]