Sub-regional training workshop on mixed stock fisheries in the Gulf of Thailand

FAO together with the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) will conduct a training workshop to develop indicator species for multi-species/multi-fishery management approaches for the Gulf of Thailand, particularly in Area 71. This is a follow-up on two workshops held last year to develop an updated list of stocks to evaluate overfishing in Regions 57 and 71.

The meeting is also aimed at enhancing regional capacity, fostering better collaboration, and sharing experiences in this region between four Member Nations namely Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The initiative serves as a foundational activity contributing to the new Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded, International Waters project implemented by FAO on promoting the blue economy and strengthening fisheries governance of the Gulf of Thailand through the ecosystem approach to fisheries.

The workshop objectives are to:

• Develop and agree on a multispecies framework for assessing the status of multispecies fish stocks using both data “rich” and data “poor” approaches.
• Agree on the set of indicator species to use as part of this framework, building on the Area 71 indicator species list.
• Review and describe possible data sets for each country to use in the multispecies assessment framework.
• Discuss management procedures/harvest strategies for multispecies fisheries management; and
• Agree on a plan for conducting multispecies assessments and methods of reporting the results.