Side events organized by the Common Oceans ABNJ Program along with partners and key speakers during the Intergovernmental Conference on marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), at UNHQ in September 2018. 

The Global sustainable fisheries management and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ Program (Common Oceans ABNJ Program), supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is a five-year Program that started its activities in early 2014. With the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as coordinating agency, the Common Oceans ABNJ Program is working in close collaboration with two other GEF implementing agencies, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Bank, as well as other executing partners, including Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), national governments, the private sector, and NGOs. This brochure introduces the for Projects that make up the Common Oceans ABNJ Program, and that are working together to achieve efficient and sustainable management of fisheries resources and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ, and to achieve global targets agreed in the international fora.

The objective of the following report is to present a business case focusing on the identification andassessment of opportunities for investment in tuna fishing and processing in south India, which mightbe attractive to either (or both) private or public investors. The work was undertaken in early 2018 aspart of the World Bank/GEF-funded Oceans Partnership Programme in the Bay of Bengal (OPPBOB),hosted by the Bay of Bengal Inter-Governmental Organisation (BOBP-IGO) in Chennai.

The poster presents two different pilots of electronic monitoring systems in tuna fisheries which are carried out in Fiji and Ghana in the framework of the Project. The current status of the pilots and the use of electronic monitoring systems for compliance to improve fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance and to supplement observer coverage are presented. The poster is prepared for the 8th International Fisheries Observer and Monitoring Conference (29 August - 2 September 2016 - San Diego, California). This conference is the premier international forum for working on the critical issues of fisheries observer programs, emerging monitoring technologies, and other approaches to fishery-dependent data collection and analyses.

Dr, Gala Moreno and Dr. Jefferson Murua, facilitators of ISSF skippers workshops, reflect on the value of fisher-scientist collaboration at a 2018 ISSF biodegradable fish aggregating device (FAD) workshop in Dakar, Senegal. The workshop is part of The Common Oceans ABNJ Tuna Project.