SEAFDEC Newsletter Vol.31 No.2

Abstract

During the past few years, SEAFDEC has put a lot of emphasis in addressing the issues of poverty alleviation and food security for people in the region. In this quarter, SEAFDEC continues the momentum by organizing a consultation on small-scale fisheries, considering that the sector has been recognized to contribute to local economy and food security of the region to a great extent. The consultation has successfully concluded with the coordinated position in the promotion of small-scale fisheries in the region which is envisaged to help ensure the sustainable development of the sector. SEAFDEC also continues to undertake several initiatives relevant to management of fishery resources in both coastal and offshore areas. TD successfully organized the training course on coastal fisheries management, and collaborated with FAO to organize a workshop on the assessment and management of offshore resources. In addition, SEAFDEC also put forward activities on combating IUU fishing in collaboration with the RPOA-IUU initiated by Australia and Indonesia and adopted by some of the SEAFDEC members, by organizing an expert meeting on fishing vessel registration. The workshop came up with the recommendations that are expected to contribute to improving vessel registration systems of the countries in the region. Also in support of fisheries management, several HRD activities with clear linkage to fisheries management particularly in the aspect of enhancing the collection of fisheries information were also conducted.