Towards the Sustainable Management of Purse Seine Fisheries in Southeast Asia

Abstract

The Resolution and Plan of Action on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for the ASEAN Region Towards 2020 (SEAFDEC, 2011) adopted during the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Conference on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security Towards 2020 “Fish for the People 2020: Adaptation to a Changing Environment” in 2011, includes Resolution No. 10 on the need to “Strengthen knowledge/sciencebased development and management of fisheries through enhancing the national capacity in the collection and sharing of fisheries data and information,” and Resolution No. 22 to “Establish and strengthen regional and subregional coordination on fisheries management and efforts to combat IUU fishing including the development of regional/sub-regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) networks.” These Resolutions have also been directed towards the development of management strategies for sustainable fisheries, more particularly, purse seine fisheries which is one of the most practiced fisheries in the Southeast Asian region. In responding to such Resolutions, the Malaysia-based SEAFDEC Marine Fisheries Resources Development and Management Department (SEAFDEC/MFRDMD) implemented the project “Comparative Studies on the Management of Purse Seine Fisheries in the Southeast Asian Region” from 2013 to 2019, in cooperation with the SEAFDEC Secretariat and SEAFDEC Training Department. With funding support from the Japanese Trust Fund, the Project involved eight participating ASEAN Member States (AMSs), namely: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam; and was aimed at coming up with: 1) an analysis of the historical data on catch and effort of purse seine fisheries among the AMSs; 2) evaluation of the purse seine fisheries management systems among the AMSs; and 3) a review of the genetic structure of commercially-important small pelagic fishes targeted by purse seine.