The Thirty-third Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), held in July 2018, saw a record participation. There were 760 delegates representing member countries, and many representing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). Small-scale fisheries issues were integrated into almost all agenda items of the meet. Soon after the presentation of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture Report 2018, Norway drew attention to how discussions at COFI on technical issues have become more intense of late, and to alleviate pressure on COFI, proposed establishing a new sub-committee on fisheries management. It sought inclusion of a paper on the proposed sub-committee to be discussed at the thirty-fourth session of COFI.