The Sub-Committee on Fisheries Management is a forum for discussing fisheries management issues at national, regional and global levels. It deals with technical and policy matters in line with FAO's mission, and actively collaborates with relevant regional and international organizations, countries, stakeholder groups, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), forging new collaborations where needed.
Second Session of the Sub-Committee on Fisheries Management – from 23 to 27 February 2026, Reykjavik, Iceland
Establishment
The Sub-Committee on Fisheries Management was established during the Thirty-Fifth session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), in accordance with Rule XXX-10 of the General Rules of the Organization and Rule
VII of the COFI Rules of Procedure.
Membership
The Sub-Committee is open to all Member Nations of the Organization. Additionally, non-Member states of the Organization that are members of the United Nations, any of its Specialized Agencies or the International
Atomic Energy Agency, may seek admission to the Sub-Committee. The admission is subject to the approval by the FAO Council.
Observers
Entities and registered COFI observers can join the Sub-Commitee by contacting [email protected].
Main functions
The primary functions of the Sub-Committee on Fisheries Management are to provide essential technical and policy guidance on fisheries governance and management, with the aim of advancing the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Furthermore, it identifies significant global issues and trends in fisheries management and sustainable development that require urgent measures, offering guidance and recommendations for addressing them.
The Sub-Committee collaborates closely with both the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture and the sub-Committee on Fish Trade, further enriching the scope of its engagement in fisheries-related matters.
For a comprehensive description of the Sub-Committee’s functions, refer to the full Terms of Reference here (page 68).
During its second session, the Sub-Committee will discuss priority areas to improve the conservation and sustainable use of fish stocks. These include strengthening evidence-based and adaptive management, promoting tailored approaches in data-limited and small-scale contexts, enhancing governance and stakeholder participation, and implementing international instruments to combat IUU fishing.
Sub-Committee Members will talk about practical recommendations to assess and manage multispecies fisheries, which are often small-scale and are common in tropical and sub-tropical regions in Asia-Pacific, Africa, and South America but are underrepresented in traditional management tools.
Discussions will also cover developments, measures and recommendations in fleet capacity management since the adoption of the International Plan of Action for the Management of Fishing Capacity (IPOA-Capacity) by COFI23 in 1999. These include a global review of measures taken by countries and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) to address overcapacity in their fishing fleets, and efforts to achieve their efficient, equitable and transparent management.
Also on the agenda is the importance of integrating social dimensions into fisheries management, especially in small-scale fisheries where management must consider food security and livelihoods, gender equality, Indigenous knowledge, customary tenure and participatory governance in order to be effective.
Regional fisheries management is vital to managing shared and migratory stocks and the work of Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs) has been instrumental in advancing the sustainability of these stocks. Members will discuss how to further strengthen the capacity of RFBs, measures to mainstream inland fisheries into basin-level governance mechanisms, and ways to support regional management arrangements in areas where regional cooperation is currently absent or limited.
