Russia and GFCM strive to promote rational management of fisheries through better scientific advice

The challenges of improving management of fisheries prioritize reaping benefits not simply from scientific monitoring and analysis but from international cooperation based, in particular, on the ability to share data and find common solutions to common problems, including in the context of existing Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs).

These motives were behind the webinar titled “Promotion of science and rational management of fisheries and aquaculture as the basis for efficient interaction with the industry – towards the Global Fishery Forum 2019”, held in Moscow on the platform of FAO’s long-time partner, the Central Scientific Agricultural Library.

FAO’s Liaison Office in Moscow (FAOLOR) and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) organized the webinar, which focused on the importance of recent science-policy interface initiatives for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region (GFCM’s area of application) and beyond.

The presentations and the ensuing discussion brought together representatives of research institutes, industry unions, analysts and practitioners in the field of fisheries and aquaculture. The webinar also aimed at raising awareness in Russia about the various aspects of GFCM activities and their relevance for the national fisheries and aquaculture agenda.

The cooperation with the GFCM is presently on an upward curve. The GFCM and FAOLOR jointly attended two Global Fishery Fora organized in Saint Petersburg by Russia’s Federal Agency for Fisheries in September 2017 and September 2018. FAO is actively involved in promoting its agenda, experience and expertise in Russia at platforms like the Global Fishery Fora, Aghasi Harutyunyan, Officer-in-Charge of FAOLOR, underlined in his opening remarks.

Furthermore, FAO and the GFCM strongly support enhanced partnership of “regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), as well as scientists, policy-makers and other relevant stakeholders in the joint decision-making process for the fisheries future”, Alexander Okhanov, the representative of the Federal Agency for Fisheries at the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to FAO, said in his speech.

This is a sign of a positive trend: the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries has already invited the GFCM Executive Secretary, Mr Abdellah Srour, to attend the third Global Fishery Forum in 2019. As Professor Kamil Bekyashev, a renowned international maritime law expert, later noted, recent positive overtures indicate that a more meaningful cooperation between Russian agencies dealing with fisheries and the GFCM is possible (Russia is presently not a member of the Commission).

Edgar Mushegyan, legal consultant on fisheries-related issues with the GFCM Secretariat in Rome, detailed several cases when science ensured better management of biological resources in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This can be traced in GFCM’s focus on adopting multiannual management plans for key marine living resources, like eel, red coral, sea bream, hake, sardine, anchovy, shrimps and turbot.

There is an apparent demand for cooperation between “all the concerned stakeholders and among scientific disciplines and sub-disciplines (e.g. behavioural economics) to produce more concrete suggestions for policy makers”, Alexander Okhanov said. Moreover, as pointed out also by

Nicola Ferri, Legal and Institutional Officer with the GFCM Secretariat, much can be gained from cooperation in the context of RFMOs as relating to data sharing, creation of common data platforms, and providing best available scientific knowledge to all decision-makers and stakeholders.

Russia has a lot to offer in this respect. It academic cluster embraces 13 fisheries research institutes with more than 5 000 scientific, technical and engineering staff, Sergey Leontiev, Head of the laboratory of marine and semi-migratory fish of the European part of Russia at the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), informed the audience.

Russia has adopted the so-called “Comprehensive Target Program of scientific research in the interests of fisheries of the Russian Federation for 2018-2022 and up to 2030” aimed, in particular, at increasing average per capita consumption of fish and fish products up to 22.7 kg by 2022 and up to 25.5 kg by 2030. The latter figure would require boosting production (catch) to 6 million tons.

To achieve this ambitious goal, Professor Leontiev stressed, science-based and rational management of fisheries is a must, as well as meaningful international cooperation. The GFCM, from its part, is currently implementing a multiannual strategy which shares the same thrust and rationale of the Russian Comprehensive Target Program. Both initiatives are linked to the 2030 UN development agenda and underpin further joint cooperation.

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The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) is the RFMO established under the provisions of Article XIV of the FAO Constitution to manage fisheries and aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The GFCM initially started its activities as a Council in 1952, when the Agreement for its establishment came into force, and became a Commission in 1997.

In 2014, following an amendment to its constitutive agreement, the GFCM established an ad-hoc working group for the Black Sea which currently brings together all Black Sea coastal States.

The main objective of the GFCM is to ensure the conservation and the sustainable use, at the biological, social, economic and environmental level, of living marine resources as well as the sustainable development of aquaculture in its area of application.

19 February, Moscow, Russian Federation