SEAFDEC Newsletter Vol.32 No.2

Abstract

From April to June 2009, several important events have been organized by SEAFDEC, one of which is the annual SEAFDEC Council organized in Fukuoka Japan, where the summary of SEAFDEC activities undertaken under the program framework, the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Fisheries Consultative Group framework, as well as the RAC framework, were presented to obtain policy directives from the Council on the respective issues. In particular, areas that are of concern of the region include the international fisheries related issues that may have implication to fisheries in the region, and the importance of fisheries contribution to food security and livelihood of the people. In this regard, SEAFDEC is therefore planning to organize the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Conference on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security towards 2020. In addition during the Council Meeting, the new SEAFDEC program framework with a revision of the overall SEAFDEC mandate was also adopted by the Council as means of consolidating and streamlining the programs/projects implemented by SEAFDEC in the future. Another area with very much progress made is the promotion of One Village One Fisheries Products (FOVOP), of which the national activities have been conducted in Cambodia, Indonesia, and Lao PDR; and would be conducted in Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam by the end of this year. In addition, for the strengthening of fisheries management mechanism in the region, the first Meeting of the ASEAN Fisheries Consultative Forum was organized in Hoi An, Vietnam, where discussions were made on several regional fisheries management issues, and the clusters of activities to be focused by the ASEAN countries toward addressing the issues.