V. Assessment of Regular Programme Results

33. The assessment that follows examines the various types of functions undertaken and outputs produced by P233 (Secretariat functions, networks, publications, databases and training). A detailed account of priorities and activities during the review period is found in Annex B. A full list of publications is in Annex C.

A. DESIGN OF TECHNICAL PROJECTS

34. The Technical Projects (TPs) have evolved through ‘projectizing’ normative Regular Programme (RP) activities. The outputs of these normative activities are usually methodologies, guidelines, technical reports, case studies, databases, newsletters, reports of workshops, trained staff. The brief descriptions of the TPs contained in FAO’s Medium Term Plan (MTP) do not follow the logical framework approach. Thus the relationship of problem identification, setting of objectives, statement of assumptions, and links between outputs and objectives is not clear. Furthermore, most of the stated indicators would not adequately measure the achievement of the objective and are not verifiable. This problem is generic to the whole of the MTP and is being addressed over time by FAO. There is an impression that considerable attention has been given to setting priorities, but translating those priorities into strategies for achieving particular objectives still requires effort. The nature of normative outputs also makes it difficult to draw attributable linkages required by the logical framework approach, because of the large number of inherent assumptions that normally would have to be realized.

35. From an evaluation perspective, all five TPs under P233 have the same common design problem: The objectives attributed to the TP are set at a very high level and the contribution of the outputs produced to their achievement is (i) unmeasurable and (ii) requires many assumptions for the objective to be achieved.

36. This means that the RP activities are far less amenable to effective evaluation than field activities such as TCPs. The process of evaluation for the RP is thus: (i) a description of the key outputs; and (ii) an assessment of the quality, perceived utility and, if possible, impact of these outputs.

B. SECRETARIAT AND RELATED FUNCTIONS

37. P233 has made substantial and influential inputs to COFI, in particular through the Sub-Committee on Fish Trade. The SSF agenda item in the 2003 COFI meeting was introduced by FII. COFI deliberations on a wide range of subjects, from fishing vessel and crew safety and VMS to CITES-related issues and revision of fish product customs codes, were all backstopped by P233. FII convenes or participates in numerous other international meetings, where FAO is called upon to act as an “honest broker” in the discussions.

38. FIIU. The most important forum for international discussion under the Programme’s responsibility is the COFI Sub-Committee on Fish Trade. The Committee’s mandate is to provide a forum for consultation on technical and economic aspects of international trade in fish and fishery products. Meetings of the Sub-Committee regularly attract in excess of 50 countries and 20 observers. The Secretariat has been instrumental in ensuring the success of these meetings by preparing relevant reports. Through the Sub-Committee and COFI, Member States have appreciated this work and stressed the need for continued support in relation to, inter alia, capacity building in fish quality and safety, WTO and CODEX matters, market information dissemination, eco-labelling, traceability and CITES matters.

39. FIIT. Fishing is among the most hazardous professions. International maritime conventions do not adequately cover fishing vessels. Existing conventions on fishing vessels (the Torremolinos Protocol, 1993 and the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1995) have not entered into force. FIIT is working closely with ILO to develop agreed international standards on health and working conditions on fishing vessels and with IMO on codes for fishing vessel safety. The latter are guidelines to be incorporated into national legislation. Improved insurance for fishers will be covered under the ILO standards. In this way, the work of FIIT may lead to important advances in sea safety that would probably not have occurred without these interventions. FIIT works through the RFBs and the Sub-Committee on Trade with respect to the harmonization of catch documentation (i.e. trade documents required to accompany certain species such as blue fin tuna under RFO regulations).

C. NETWORKS AND LINKAGES

40. Under P233 FII has built, maintained and expanded a number of important networks.

41. The FISH INFOnetwork is the most important and the oldest of these. The seven members¹² cover the globe and link industry, governments and international organizations through cooperation on fish trade, technology and related issues. All are IGOs with the exception of INFOYU, which is part of the Chinese fisheries administration, and GLOBEFISH, which is funded from the RP.

Table 10. FISH INFOnetwork Members

42. Funding is derived both from member contributions and sale of services. FII makes extensive use of the INFOnetwork to assist with studies and implement projects. Agreements exist between FAO and the INFOnetwork members. The primary focus of efforts is on industrial fisheries, traded fish products and processing. However there is an important trickle-down effect for SSF, when improved information leads to better prices and market opportunities in general. The importance and value of the work conducted by the FISH INFOnetwork was often mentioned by countries visited by the evaluation missions and confirmed by the results of the questionnaire, where FAO scored very high as a source of information in fish trade and processing.

43. Important links and useful working relationships exist with a wide range of international organizations. These linkages are both essential and fruitful to the work of P233. FIIT is an important node of an MCS/VMS network maintained by NOAA/OGC. Close cooperation and dialogue exists with numerous national fisheries administrations, NGOs and fisheries institutions, on a number of different and wide-ranging topics as shown in the chart below.

Table 11. Major FII Partners

D. PUBLICATIONS AND DATABASES

Publications

44. The Programme produces information on subjects of topical interest in both hard copy and electronic versions. Publications are generally of a high quality. Some of these were considered very valuable by Member States consulted during the evaluation and these publications are widely used, e.g. the CCRF and the relevant Technical Guidelines. However, some other publications are considered to be too general in scope and content to be used as basic references for training, national policy elaboration, planning and project preparation and implementation. Continued preparation, publication and updating of high quality technical documents are essential. All basic reference documents can be supplemented by electronic versions (generally already available on the FAO Internet site), but cannot be substituted by the electronic versions (see below).

45. Major publications. Among the most important are FII contributions to SOFIA on fleets, fleet economics, trade and small-scale fisheries as well as the preparation of presentations and background documentation for COFI. As part of joint FI efforts, FII made substantial contributions to the preparation of the IPOAs on seabirds, sharks, IUU, and capacity. During the review period FII prepared two CCRF Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries (on VMS and on Fish Utilization) and was closely involved in the preparation of an additional five Technical Guidelines (fisheries management, sharks, ecosystem approach, indicators, and implementation of the IPOA on IUU). Several previously published Technical Guidelines were translated and distributed into other official languages. Additional important publications on participatory management of landing sites, use of ice and refrigeration on board small fishing vessels, discards, trawl selectivity, and the effects of trawling on benthos are in preparation. Numerous PowerPoint presentations have been prepared and delivered to international meetings including COFI seminars and the Reykjavik Conference on Responsible Fisheries in the Marine Ecosystem.

46. During the field missions and in the questionnaire, countries were asked to cite publications that were found particularly valuable. Countries generally praised the FII publications and the CCRF documents and Technical Guidelines received the most mention.

47. Technical documents. Several sets of technical documents were produced.

Table 12. Documents produced by FII²⁵

48. The distribution by language (including translations) is as follows:

49. Workshop and meeting reports. A number of workshop reports have been published in the Fisheries Report and FISHCODE series. P233 and FII make substantial contributions to publications of other FI Divisions. The publication of workshop proceedings as Technical Papers is not always warranted if the contributions are below standard. In order to be published, substantial additional review and editing may be required and this may not always be cost-effective. Some workshop reports remain unpublished.

50. Training materials. Since 1996, only one Training Series publication (on fishing with traps and pots) has appeared. Although numerous other technical materials of direct utility for training and capacity building have been published (e.g. CCRF Technical Guidelines), the relative importance of the training focus is shown in that out of the 55 titles appearing in the entire FAO Fisheries Training Series catalogue, 18 were produced in the P233 subject area.

51. GLOBEFISH. The Network produces six sets of publications, which are in high demand from industry and are distributed at a net financial gain for the Network.

• The GLOBEFISH Research Programme has produced a series of 73 reports dealing with country and global markets for major fish products and commodities;
• European Price Report and a yearly fish trade Highlights;
• Commodity Updates for important internationally traded products e.g. salmon, shrimp, fishmeal (5-7 per year);
• Directory of European fish importers, exporters and producers (yearly);
• Special Sales studies address hot topic such as electronic fish auctions and WTO issues;
• Metropolitan Market Series. A set of 8 studies covering major urban markets.

52. In addition, GLOBEFISH has prepared and delivered some 55 articles and presentations at conferences and workshops.

53. Sister organizations in the FISH INFOnetwork produce additional publications, which are also in high demand, particularly at regional level. These include EUROFISH Magazine, INFOPESCA International, INFOFISH International, Russian Fish Report and INFOSAMAK International Magazine.

Distribution of publications and diffusion of key messages

54. It is very difficult to assess the impact of publications. Their distribution and circulation beyond the original recipient is difficult to know; how much the information impacted on the recipient’s work and attributing developmental change to this is an even more formidable task. Thus, from the information available, the evaluation had to focus on the distribution of publications, rather than specifically on impact.

55. The field missions noted that the diffusion of FAO documents and publications requires improvement, particularly in Africa and also in parts of Asia. This problem is generic and refers to many FAO publications. Knowledge of the existence of documents and guidelines produced by FII is often poor. Some quality publications are highly technical or theoretical and may not respond to the needs of decision makers or SSF stakeholders. There has been a decline in extension services, particularly in Africa and Latin America, and the capacity of national institutions to extract technical messages from complex documents and transfer these to local users in an understandable form is very much reduced.

56. Particularly in Africa, access to IT and Internet is not widespread and even CD readers may not be readily available. In many cases fisheries officers and training institutions do not have regular access to either. Those few staff which have Internet access are often researchers, or managers who may not transfer²⁶ knowledge of the publications. Internet connections are often too slow to allow downloading of large files, particularly those with graphical material.

57. Other media. The FAO FI film library, which has valuable materials, should be more accessible to interested parties for training purposes. External resources could be sought to archive and classify and access educational materials for other media (TV, radio, newspaper, photographs) to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort in their production.

Databases and Websites

58. P233 supports several databases and information systems and contributes to FAO websites. GLOBEFISH is a highly professional fish price data system with considerable staff and resources. Some of the other databases listed below would benefit from additional resources being devoted to their updating and maintenance.

Table 13. Databases supported by Programme 2.3.3

59. FII has also made significant contributions to oneFish (a fishery projects and participatory resource database) and the UN Atlas of the Oceans.

60. The establishment of several other databases could be considered in the future, if resources permit:

• Separate databases on interactions between fishing gears and (i) turtles, (ii) marine mammals and (iii) seabirds. Such databases would need the support of UNEP, CITES, CMS, the RFBs and others.
• Mitigation measures and their effectiveness, and an inventory of expertise for introduction and testing of mitigation measures.

E. TRAINING

61. The continued use of national and regional workshops is important as a two-way exchange of information enabling FII to pass knowledge to the participants and simultaneously gain awareness of their requirements. Target beneficiaries are normally middle-level government officers and technicians, who are often trained as trainers for further dissemination of the information and technologies. Private entrepreneurs are also sometimes trained (e.g. food safety in Asia) but often benefit later from the trained officers.

62. The majority of the workshops have been highly productive. Both the field missions and the questionnaire confirmed this. Workshops and expert consultations have been held in numerous technical areas including: WTO and the impact of globalization of world fish trade, CODEX, fish quality and safety, HACCP, regional cooperation on VMS, fisherman’s safety, demography of fishing communities, catch documentation, port and flag state control over fishing vessels, gear technology, bycatch and wastage of fish. In some cases, it was reported that the practical focus of the workshops could have been improved.

63. There is a clear need for further capacity building both at a personal and institutional level. The TRAINFISH initiative, intended to develop modular training courses, did not progress due to the complexity of the task in the absence of a donor. Approaches to capacity building are further discussed in Section ‎VII.B.

VI. Assessment of Field Activities

64. The assessment of field activities is based on the judgements made by evaluation missions to 12 projects (10 national and one regional funded by FAO-TCP, and one national funded by UNDP) in nine countries²⁷ in Africa and Asia, plus desk studies of an additional three projects (two national and one regional) in Latin America. Thus, the evaluation covered a total of 15 field interventions, out of a total of 39 implemented during the review period. In addition, the questionnaire survey to 50 selected member countries also requested information about FAO-executed projects related to fisheries exploitation and utilization.

A. QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT

65. Projects were assessed against eight different aspects. Scoring was done on a 3-point scale, with 3 being the highest for each item. A score of 2 was deemed satisfactory; average scores above 2 can be considered better than satisfactory and average scores below 2 are less than satisfactory. The criteria and average scores for all are presented in the table below.

Table 14. Scoring of TCPs against Established Criteria

66. As has been the case in other recent thematic evaluations, the relevance of projects to development problems was found to be high, while the translation of this into clear objectives and a coherent and implementable design was found to be satisfactory. This is often attributed to poor formulation of requests in countries and the absence of project preparation funds, meaning that for some complex proposals, officers in FAO are unable to carry out on-the-spot assessments of feasible solutions. The score on cost-effectiveness is, to some degree, also a design-related issue. The scores were held down considerably by two projects in particular that received very low scores, out of the 15 in the total sample. Without these two projects, scores would have been 0.15-0.23 higher on each criterion.

67. Project performance, on the other hand, was generally good and the overall score on outputs indicates that this was one of the strongest elements of field projects.

68. The country questionnaires, which covered a number of topics, asked for general information about satisfaction with project interventions, with the possibility to supplement the general answers with more detailed information if desired. Countries were asked to assess the projects as “good to excellent”, “satisfactory” or “not satisfactory”. Some 25 projects were so assessed, of which 60% were rated “good to excellent” and 40% “satisfactory”²⁸. There appears to be a considerable demand for FAO-TCP assistance in fisheries, as fully 38% of the respondents stated that they had requested assistance in this area but that it had not been received. Reasons given included insufficient priority attached to the request by the Government agency responsible, TCP quota already reached, rejection on technical grounds by FAO and lack of response from FAO to the request.

B. ISSUES RELATED TO FIELD ACTIVITIES

69. Several common issues emerged from the examination of the field activities that should be considered in the future design of projects in the areas related to fisheries exploitation and utilization. The first two issues relate to TCPs in general; the last three are particular to P233.

Complexity

70. In the TCP projects examined, there were considerable differences in what could be termed project complexity. The safety and quality improvement projects, which represented one-third of the total volume, were largely successful because they were similar in design and execution modalities that had been developed over time. More complex TCP projects, which may have multiple and varied objectives, require coordination with several agencies or institutions and rely more heavily on events outside the managerial control of the project and are inherently more difficult. In addition, such projects are more likely to slip in their implementation, meaning that sometimes they cannot be completed within the two-year statutory limitation for TCP projects. TCP policies restricting certain types of inputs (especially human resources) for project implementation complicate management of projects. It appears that more complex TCP projects are increasingly common, to compensate for the fact that donor interest in funding such projects through FAO has decreased.

Design

71. Most programme evaluation reports comment on project design and the need for clear and achievable objectives, appropriate outputs, defined target beneficiaries, etc. All of the projects that were scored as “unsatisfactory” on project objectives or design were also scored “unsatisfactory” on follow-up, impact or both. It is appreciated that, due to constraints of time and resources, it may not always be possible to carry out all the investigations necessary to ensure sound project design, but the risks inherent in such cases could be identified in advance of approval, as part of the appraisal process. This is rarely done, at least not explicitly.

Sustainability

72. The interventions focused on capacity building for fish safety and quality (laboratory operation, HACCP training) clearly have had a direct and sustainable impact. As an integral part of such projects, some additional measures may be directed to assuring the financial sustainability of laboratories, through helping to establish the national financial arrangements for supply of chemicals and materials.

Implementation Issues

73. With respect to this Programme in the Africa region, there is a need to improve communication and coordination between Headquarters and the Regional Office. For example, similar studies were carried out or proposed in the same countries, under RP and TCP funding, with duplication of efforts (e.g. marketing networks on cured fish in West Africa). This seems to be mostly due to the split distribution of responsibilities for the backstopping of TCPs between HQ and RAF. At the same time, experiences and lessons stemming from projects and activities in different countries in the region could be fruitfully used elsewhere. Thus, a more regular exchange of information between Headquarters and the RAF seems to be necessary. Although information exchange was weak in Asia through much of the reporting period, it has improved considerably lately.

74. There is also a general absence of readily accessible information about projects. Records formerly kept in Headquarters were sent to Regional Offices when project operations were decentralized to that level; now budget holders for most TCP projects are at country level (FAO Country Representatives). At Headquarters, individual project files are not maintained by the Department. Individual officers may keep their own files, but project reports should be entered in the centrally-maintained Field Project Management Information System (FPMIS). FIIU has made an important effort to maintain technical reports of field activities in a central location, with its grey boxes system. It is hoped that the initiative, begun by a recently-retired officer, will continue while at the same time filing of reports with the central system will improve.

75. Procurement has also been slow in some cases, but there is no reason to think that fisheries TCPs have had more problems than others in this respect.

Flexible Sources of Expertise

76. Compared to other programmes evaluated recently, FII has been quite successful in effectively utilizing various sources of expertise to carry out project assignments. FIIU in particular has made use of the FISH INFOnetwork for consultancy services and has a core of TCDC consultants for implementing training activities on request. This makes it easier to implement field activities in a timely fashion.

VII. Structural Issues and Key Programme Areas

77. This section comments on a number of issues that are changing the nature of the demand for FII services to Member States and attempts to assess some of the impacts of P233 in selected thematic areas. Many of them are already well recognised within FII and were discussed in some detail at an internal brainstorming session²⁹ held in 2002. The key problem is how to address the large number of issues given the available resources.

A. STRUCTURAL ISSUES

78. Increasing complexity. Particularly in the area of fish exploitation, there is a tendency for officers dealing with P233 issues to become increasingly drawn into (a) broader and more complex issues, e.g. coastal zone management, participatory processes; and (b) more specialized technical issues, e.g. information technology in harvesting, electronic markets and at-sea sales of fish, harvesting of deepsea demersal resources. Measuring and managing fishing capacity has become more complex and should not be limited to the fleet, as the capacity of the entire production system evolves. An economic efficiency approach needs to be followed that stretches along the production chain: fuel supplies; information technology; sales systems and buffers; quality and freshness; the cost of regulations. It is likely that FII advice will increasingly be sought on the economic as well as the physical efficiency of harvesting.

79. From exploitation to management. While assistance in the development of fishing and fish utilization technologies continues to be of major interest to countries, the management of such technologies, including elaboration of policies and regulations, is a focus of increasing attention. Specific advice is necessary, for example, on resolving conflicts between fishing gears, on clearly explaining the relative impacts of different gears to competing groups of fishers, on establishing property rights over fish aggregating devices (FADs), on rendering regulatory measures effective and enforceable (e.g. mesh size regulations). This is partly as a result of resource overexploitation and the perceived need to maximize the use of declining marine capture resources. Thus, there are fewer underutilized marine capture resources and exploitation of such resources may be only marginally profitable (e.g. shrimp bycatch, mesopelagic resources, deepsea resources). Consequently, there is an emphasis on maximizing the use of, or adding value to, existing catches, or reducing the cost of catching.

80. In isolation, many of these technological improvements mean perpetuation of overexploitation of resources by shifting the cost and earning curves of the production model and may result in negative distributional effects, i.e. poor fishers are unable to acquire the technology. Thus, there is an urgent need to couple the technological solutions with resource management and appropriate policies in order to use the technological improvement to counter trends in resource depletion.

81. Human resources. The distribution of FII human resources can be considered with respect to a mix of skills, language capabilities and geographical experience. At present there is a need for improvement (e.g. no capability for FIIT in Latin America), which may be met with the pending recruitments.

82. Within the overall FI structure there are possibilities for improving the allocation of the resources. Some consideration may be given to the designation of both geographical and thematic focal points, e.g. the designation of a responsible officer for small-scale fisheries, for Africa, etc. to facilitate coordination in selected areas at HQ level. This could to some extent remedy the operational gap created by the disbanding of the former Operations Division and assist in improving synergies and communications at the level of the Regional Offices/HQ interface, particularly with regard to backstopping the TCPs. The challenge is essentially how to organize in order to extract maximum performance from the Organization’s scarce resources.

83. Split responsibilities. Although in theory leadership is assigned and working groups and task forces are organized within FI, a review of priorities and coordination within thematic activities could improve the allocation of the scarce human and other resources. In particular this applies to the areas of:

• Capacity development and in particular implementing the messages of the CCRF at all levels;
• small-scale fisheries;
• MCS and VMS.

84. These areas were identified as particularly important in the questionnaire survey. Capacity building and small-scale fisheries are broad issues that involve the FI Department as a whole, not just FII.

B. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

Assessment

85. FII makes an invaluable contribution to capacity building and training, particularly in developing Member States. The publications, workshops, courses and support to and synergy with RFBs are all essential to capacity building. Nevertheless, particularly in Africa, the human resources of the fisheries administrations and fisheries NGOs appear to be in decline as a result of staff reallocations, natural attrition and HIV/AIDS. Consequently renewed efforts are required both to replace previously-existing skilled human resources capacity and further enhance that capacity. The following commentaries concentrate on technical training while acknowledging that training is only one dimension of capacity building³⁰.

Issues

86. Priorities. There is a high demand for capacity building. Consequently FII must be selective in its choices of capacity building initiatives. For example, FIIU has been very successful in the area of HACCP training and related quality assurance. The start-up of the EU-funded ACP/OCT project covering some 60 ACP countries and 8 OCT suggests that non-ACP developing countries could be priority targets. Further, synergies between the FIIU efforts and the experiences of the ACP/OCT project may yield valuable lessons³¹. Similar gaps in capacity building may be identified in other areas.

87. Three closely initiatives can be considered:

• Improved networking;
• preparation of additional didactic materials;
• improved distribution of materials.

88. Networking training and capacity building institutions. FII has the strategic advantage of being able to create a network of training institutions to cater for most international training requirements. Numerous initiatives have already been undertaken. These include the directories of training institutions, a workshop on TRAINFISH and liaison with UNESCO and a number of specialized universities and institutions. The following is suggested:

• FII selects a set of institutions with internationally-recognized training capabilities as ‘centres of excellence’. Initially, this could focus on a specific technical area, e.g. development and management of small harbours and landing sites.
• FAO considers a ‘twinning’ process whereby a ‘senior’ centre of excellence is paired with another institution in a long-term cooperative arrangement to jointly prepare selected training materials and to train trainers. The exercise would be used to test and refine the training materials. The ‘twinning’ arrangement may be extended to more than two partners to provide adequate geographical and language coverage.
• The course modules, extension booklets, or other materials (translated where necessary) would form part of the FAO Training (or extension) Series with the involved institutions taking credit for their preparation. The use of the FAO logo and ‘imprimatur’ is one of the strategic advantages that can be further exploited to advance the P233 agenda.
• Both institutions seek funding from their respective national authorities to address the agreed tasks.
• Updating of the inventory of training institutions, possibly in the form of a database associated with UNESCO, would also be of use to Member States and designers of projects.
• Compiling a repository of existing training materials both in hard copy and in electronic form, including a database of drawing and graphical materials of use for training purposes. An FAO training video library exists but the materials are not readily accessible.

89. Selection of materials. Four categories of training materials can be envisaged:

• Materials focused on the extension of the CCRF through simplified versions of the Technical Guidelines. Assistance in translation of the Technical Guidelines can also be envisaged. Such materials would include generic illustrations (e.g. line drawings or cartoon style). The target groups would be politicians, district level fisheries officers and fishers organizations.
• The transformation of existing specialized information (e.g. in Technical Reports or ‘how to’ manuals) into course materials. The preparation of a globally recognized set of high quality training materials avoids ‘re-invention of the wheel’ and provides an appropriate didactic framework for learning and knowledge transfer. For the SSF, the compilation of an electronic and hard copy, indexed repository of appropriate technical and extension materials on technologies can be considered, e.g. an electronic version of ‘How to build a Chorkor fish smoker’ (complete with drawings, measurements, capital costs in terms of quantities of materials, and operating costs in terms of kilos and time) can save the time and energy of a local development project when designing extension materials. The target group would be teachers in fisheries training institutions and mid-level fisheries officers. This would be accomplished selectively and progressively through the twinning network outlined above.
• Preparation of new technical materials, e.g. on emerging issues such as the introduction of BRDs, mitigation measures to reduce incidental catches of seabirds, or marine mammals, on ecolabelling and ‘fair trade’ certification systems.
• Distance learning materials which are a further transformation of proven course modules.

90. A wide range of existing P233-generated materials is suitable for further development. These include guidelines on cyclone and flood disaster preparedness, assessment of damage and subsequent relief operations including rehabilitation of productive capacity of affected communities as well as harbours and landing sites course material.

91. Distribution of materials. The distribution of materials is essentially a generic problem for FAO and requires further attention outside of this evaluation. An inventory of training institutions (particularly those in developing countries) with details of their range of courses can form the basis for targeting distribution of training materials. The ‘twinning’ process can also assist. Expanding Internet access and knowledge systems such as OneFish, Fishport and FIGIS will also be of assistance. P233 materials can be distributed on CD to training institutions and designated national fisheries repository libraries. Abstracts and table of contents and executive summaries could be included on the CD Catalogue of FAO publications.

C. SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES AND HARNESSING ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Assessment

92. Small-scale fisheries (SSF) are highly diverse, ranging from ‘mini-trawlers’ to kattumarans and beach fishers without boats. Many highly effective technologies such as monofilament gillnets, outboard motors, and use of ice have been successfully promoted and adopted with assistance from FII. However, the institutional frameworks for management of these technologies to organize the increasing numbers of fishers and to sustainably manage the targeted fish resources have not evolved in parallel.

93. Success stories in SSF are the exception rather than the rule and there are strong indications that if not in decline, the resource base and the social fabric of small-scale fisheries are under severe threat. Thus despite considerable efforts by both national governments and FAO, it is clear that even greater efforts are required to reverse the apparent decline in SSFs.

94. Political change and re-allocation of resources implies winners and losers. This in turn implies change in political influence and distribution of wealth. Investment (e.g. capacity reduction or improvement in fish quality) may be required in order to implement such changes and compensate for negative social and political effects. While projects often require policy change as a precedent in order to succeed, few projects provide for a coordinated approach to both technical and political change.

95. Both field missions and the questionnaire indicate that Member States seek assistance to manage their SSF. FAO’s Corporate Objectives³² also lay a strong emphasis on issues directly related to SSF - “rural livelihoods, equitable access, vulnerable groups, emergencies, and policy and regulatory frameworks” - justifying increased attention and concentration of efforts on these complex fisheries. The integration of population messages and HIV/AIDS awareness components into all small-scale fisheries projects also merits consideration.

Issues

96. Coordination. FAO interventions in SSFs clearly require improved coordination across the different FI divisions. The existing horizontal arrangements (e.g. working groups, task forces) may not have the required weight, organization and resources to effectively address the complex issues involved, either in terms of the organizational arrangements within FAO, or the intricacies of the SSFs themselves. These arrangements could be the subject of further internal review within FI with a view to prioritizing the use of resources and ensuring effective synergies. The mid-term review of the large SFLP (West Africa) lends weight to this view.

97. Interpreting the COFI mandate. Raising awareness of SSF at COFI was a major achievement. However, the opportunity to increase the proportion of resources devoted to SSF in P233 in the PWB 2004-05 was not taken. The thrust on gathering information in SSF remains. Clearly additional information and understanding of SSF is useful, but may not necessarily be the main priority. Given the magnitude of these fisheries and their social importance, a sub-committee on SSF may be warranted. COFI also made clear reference to allocating additional resources to SSF and to the question of fishing rights.

98. Additional resources. It is suggested that a major priority should be the harnessing of additional resources for SSF, while ensuring best use is made of available resources. However, it is recognized that much of the search for additional funds cannot be done by P233 on its own, but as part of a wider approach. In addition to the RP resources under P233 and TCP, other sources include: SFLP, GEF shrimp bycatch project (bycatch collection and utilization and related resource allocation issues) and FISHCODE. Potential additional multilateral resources include: the GEF projects in formulation (BoBP, Sub-Sahara LME projects), World Bank Trust Funds, and IFAD projects. Development of a matrix of planned and ongoing interventions will assist the planning and prioritisation process.

99. Using the ‘flagship’. Effective use of resources is contingent on establishing a suitable operational framework at national level. Current wisdom³³ suggests that the creation of ‘rights-based’ fisheries is an essential step in creating such a framework. However, the political impetus for such transition is often weak. Two basic processes can assist the transition from open access to limited access and enforce exclusive rights of small-scale fishers to the inshore zones. The first is the promotion of the CCRF at a political level³⁴ so that the political and public pressure for responsible fisheries is elevated and acted upon. This could involve targeting of ministers, ‘parliamentary fisheries committees’ and provincial governors. In this regard, efforts may initially be focused on countries where there is a clear political commitment to equitable access to the fish resources. The second requirement is effective enforcement whether by ‘top-down’ or co-management approaches.

100. Critical control points. Harbours and landing sites are essential critical control points for SSF and fall within the remit of FII. A range of key MCS, revenue collection, sea safety and fisher organization functions can be focused on landing sites.

101. Especially in Africa and parts of Asia, post harvest losses in term of both product quantity and value are a major problem. Landing sites are a particularly important focal point in addressing such problems. As illustrated in the above diagram, many MCS activities can be cost-effectively located landing points. The relative merits of inshore zone detection/protection using coastal radar and VMS requires further attention.

D. VMS AND MCS

102. FII and FIP overlap. There is considerable overlap between FIIT and FIP regarding technical advice on MCS. FIIT currently restricts its MCS activities to VMS, catch documentation and issues related to vessel flagging and marking. Demands from member countries are often highly technical in nature, e.g. specifications of patrol platforms (vessels and aircraft), specifications for radars, for secure communications equipment, vessel measurement, marking and registration, and practical training for fisheries inspectors and for on-board observers. Catch traceability, catch documentation and assurance with regard to the effective use of mitigation devices (BRDs, TEDs) are emerging as additional technical issues. However, as MCS is essentially a technical activity which supports a fishery management plan, the purely technical issues cannot readily be addressed in isolation.

103. The WSSD recommended the implementation of the IPOA on IUU. The key MCS problems concern implementation. In practical terms, this suggests that rather than focusing on a highly generic ‘IUU’ (e.g. many small-scale fisheries are unregulated and unrecorded), instead efforts should concentrate on management plans for the priority fisheries and on addressing the key control and enforcement issues in relation to the specific fishery. This involves providing guidance on cost-effective MCS, sustainable financing of MCS and providing guidance on the complex legal and maritime administrative interfaces with respect to the establishment and management of fishing vessel registers and the means of validating their underlying databases.

104. The IPOA on IUU serves as a useful checklist of MCS activities. However, the joint efforts of FIIT and FIP may wish to focus on a narrower objective of helping to create effective, financially sustainable enforcement capability for priority fisheries in developing countries.

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¹² An additional new network is being set up for Eastern and Southern Africa.

¹³ Asia and Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association.

¹⁴ Association of Southeast-Asian Nations.

¹⁵ Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

¹⁶ International Association of Fish Inspectors.

¹⁷ International Coalition of Fishery Associations.

¹⁸ Respectively: International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas; Indian Ocean Tuna Commission; Commission for the Conservation of Southern Blue Fin Tuna; Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.

¹⁹ International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.

²⁰ Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia.

²¹ Organization of Eastern Caribbean States.

²² Southeast Asian Fishery Development Centre.

²³ Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

²⁴ Sub-regional Fisheries Commission.

²⁵ From FAO Fisheries website.

²⁶ “The limited amounts of …[documents] … often remain in the libraries, or as reference documents to a limited few.” IDAF Mid-term review.

²⁷ Eight countries mentioned previously, plus participation in evaluation of a UNDP-funded project in Bangladesh.

²⁸ However, of these 25 projects, only 9 fell strictly under Programme 2.3.3. This underlines the conceptual difficulty of isolating fisheries exploitation and utilization from other aspects of fisheries management.

²⁹ Summary Report of the Fisheries Technology Service Planning Workshop, 12-13 March 2002.

³⁰ See: ACFR, 2003. Discussion paper. Human capacity building in fisheries.

³¹ Contacts were made between the EU and FIIU for more extensive involvement but necessary support from the Technical Cooperation Department was not forthcoming. Consequently, FIIU does not have a direct role in the project. However, some funds may be channeled through the FISH INFOnetwork and FIIU may be instrumental in delivering some of the training.

³² Eradication of food insecurity and rural poverty; reinforcing policy and regulatory frameworks; creating sustainable increases in the supply and availability of food; sustainable use of natural resources.

³³ E.g. COFI, 2003; Resolution on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for the ASEAN Region.

³⁴ E.g. India has already established high-level CCRF committees and requires assistance with a structured programme of poverty alleviation, which can be largely based on the Code.