Report of the Fourth Session of the Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research - Rome, 10-13 December 2002

FAO.

Report of the fourth session of the Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research. Rome, 10-13 December 2002.

FAO Fisheries Report. No. 699. Rome, FAO. 2003. 25p.

ABSTRACT

The Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research (ACFR) held its fourth session in Rome from 10 to 13 December 2002.

The Committee reviewed its achievements during its last three sessions; provided guidance for operationalizing the time-bound fisheries goals in the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002; identified priority emerging issues of international character in fisheries and aquaculture; and elaborated the plan of work for the Committee (2003 - 2004).

As in the past, the Committee extended its deliberation to include the manner in which scientific research could contribute to the development of fisheries policies with particular emphasis on questions of food security and poverty alleviation. In this regard the Committee, inter alia:

Welcomed the attention and prominence given by WSSD 2002 to fisheries issues;

Provided detailed guidance on how to operationalize the time-bound goals in fisheries of WSSD 2002 in the context of responsible fisheries;

Recommended that FAO play a key facilitating role in support of national, regional and international efforts towards implementation of the planned targets of WSSD 2002 and indicated how this could be done;

Reiterated that small-scale fisheries had generally received less research attention relative to other sectors than merited by their relative contribution to nutrition, food security, sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation;

Welcomed the inclusion of small-scale fisheries as a stand-alone agenda item of the Twenty-fifth Session of COFI;

Recommended the establishment of an ACFR Working Party on Small-scale Marine Fisheries to elaborate a draft research agenda and undertake an evaluation of the role and importance of these fisheries and also outline ways in which the transition to responsible fisheries can be facilitated, bearing in mind the developing paradigm of the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF);

Recommended that priority be given to case studies to determine the impacts of trade and trade measures (either liberation on trade barriers) on conservation and livelihoods, particularly for small-scale fisheries in developing countries;

Recognized that the goals of WSSD 2002 and the promotion of responsible fisheries management and sound aquaculture development were constrained by lack of appropriate human capacity to accommodate the new approaches to fisheries issues and fisheries management, and therefore designated the building of human capacity as its next “mega-priority cross-cutting issue”;

Recommended that the idea for the development of a human capacity building strategy for fisheries should be highlighted by the Fisheries Department at the Twenty-fifth Session of COFI and indicated the process by which such a strategy could be established.