FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI)

760 delegates from member countries, international non-governmental organizations and partners gathered in Rome for the 33rd session of FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI), which meets every two years to discuss issues of global relevance in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. The Committee, which was held 9-13 July 2018, welcomed progress in implementing the SSF Guidelines, including mainstreaming in laws, policies and other initiatives, and encouraged continued work under the FAO SSF Umbrella Programme. 

The Committee underscored the active role SSF actors should play in decision-making and encouraged FAO to provide capacity development and technical support to small-scale fisheries. COFI 33 also acknowledged the limited statistics available on SSF and therefore welcomed the efforts of FAO to assess inland and marine fisheries encouraging further improvements in statistical collection systems. The Committee also welcomed the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries in 2022. 

Here you can read about the progress by FAO and partners concerning the implementation of the SSF Guidelines and related work on small-scale fisheries since 2016.

COFI/2018/7: Small-scale and artisanal fisheries governance 
COFI/2018/Inf.17: Progress by FAO and partners concerning the implementation of the SSF Guidelines since the Thirty-second Session of COFI in 2016
COFI/2018/Inf.18: Progress in improving the information baseline and assessment of the contribution of small-scale fisheries in marine and inland waters