Monitoring, control, and surveillance of deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction
The Sustainable Fisheries Management and Biodiversity Conservation of Deep Sea Living Resources in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Project (ABNJ Deep Seas Project for short) is a five year project supported by the Global Environment Facility, and implemented jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the United Nations Environment Programme.
The UNEP project component is executed though the UNEP World Conservation and Monitoring Centre.
The Project is designed to enhance sustainability in the use of deep-sea living resources and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ through the systematic application of an ecosystem approach.
It brings together over 20 partners who work on deep-sea fisheries and conservation issues in the ABNJ globally.
The partnership includes regional organizations responsible for the management of deep-sea fisheries, Regional Seas Programmes, the fishing industry and international organizations. The Project aims to:
• strengthen policy and legal frameworks for sustainable fisheries and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ deep seas;
• reduce adverse impacts on VMEs and enhanced conservation and management of components of EBSAs;
• improve planning and adaptive management for deep sea fisheries in ABNJ; and
• develop and test methods for area‐based planning.
The ABNJ Deep Seas Project started in September 2015 and is one of four projects under the GEF Common Oceans Programme. More information is available from www.commonoceans.org.