COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES

Report of the sixth session of the
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON FISHERIES RESEARCH
Rome, 17–20 October 2006

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

FAO.
Report of the sixth session of the Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research.
Rome, 17–20 October 2006
FAO Fisheries Report. No. 812. Rome, FAO. 2007. 21p.

ABSTRACT

The Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research (ACFR) held its sixth Session in Rome, Italy, from 17 to 20 October 2006. The Committee reviewed the work of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department with a focus on fish trade, small-scale fisheries and aquaculture. The ACFR discussed also other relevant work and activities undertaken by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department and related, among others, to human capacity development in fisheries, information on status and trends of capture fisheries, FI’s communication strategy, etc.

The Committee addressed not only research aspects but also policy matters and provided recommendations to further guide the future work of the Department.

The Committee recognized that much of the trade-related work of FAO was cross-cutting in its nature and that, in the FAO fisheries and aquaculture work programme, care should be taken to integrate the trade and fish utilization work with other relevant fields, especially fisheries resource management, aquaculture production development and social areas such as food security and gender and development of standards and certification.

The Committee appreciated the decision to keep small-scale fisheries as a stand-alone agenda item during COFI. It recognized that there was a need for better assessment tools and methodology for small-scale fisheries but that this would be best developed in considering a number of case studies. It recommended that the current high profile of deepwater fisheries not be allowed to distort priorities at the expense of other fisheries, especially small-scale fisheries in developing countries, which are much more important in terms of human welfare and ecological impact.

The Committee commended the work of FAO in aquaculture and welcomed the timely inclusion of fish species in the Programme of Work of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, as genetic resources were becoming increasingly important in view of their roles in improved aquaculture production and threats to biodiversity and genetic resource conservation.

The Committee discussed a number of future priorities for consideration at its next meeting (2008) and therefore for work in the interim by FAO/Fisheries and Aquaculture Department.