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COFI is a unique body in regularly providing global policy recommendations and advice.
International community calls for improvements in giant squid management and calls for greater transparency in China's distant water fleet
ITALY
Wednesday, July 10, 2024, 21:00 (GMT + 9)
- At the 36th Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in Rome (Italy), Alfonso Miranda, president of the Committee for the Sustainable Management of the South Pacific Giant Squid , CALAMASUR, made an urgent call for action to improve the sustainable management of giant squid or squid.
- The importance of squid for artisanal fisheries and global food sovereignty was highlighted, but despite this, little attention has been paid to combating illegal fishing by distant water fleets and applying scientific approaches.
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The FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), established in 1965, is the only global intergovernmental forum that examines and discusses the main problems related to fisheries and aquaculture, formulating recommendations for governments and regional fisheries bodies. .
This international event brings together experts and government delegates from around the world to discuss the state of global fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the progress made in implementing the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
During his speech, Miranda stressed that regional fisheries management organizations are essential for the sustainable management of squid.
However, he stated that fisheries management has not advanced at the same pace as supply chains.
“We recognize that the PS-RFMO has been instrumental in defining some basic management measures, the main one being the freezing of the fishing effort of distant water fleets to prevent them from continuing to grow uncontrolled. However, we detect the little attention that has been paid to the fight against illegal fishing and the outstanding debt that exists in the use of science for fishery management. We have made progress, but we cannot stop,” Miranda said.
Furthermore, he emphasized the situation in the South Atlantic, where the distant water fishery remains unregulated, calling on actors to have greater political will and to coordinate actions at a regional scale that allow solving problems under a practical and innovative approach.
.png) Along these lines, Andrew Clayton, representative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, highlighted in his presentation that, although the areas managed by the SPRFMO, together with the jurisdictional waters of Chile and Peru, represent 35.5% of the world catches of squid, a substantial part of the squid fisheries is not well quantified and is not under the jurisdiction of any RFMO.
“This condition is unsustainable and must be corrected immediately,” Clayton said.
Furthermore, he highlighted the urgent need to improve the management and regulation of squid fisheries in various regions of the world, especially in those areas where fisheries are significant, but lack adequate documentation and regulations.
.png) Finally, the session was closed with the words of Deirdre Warner-Kramer, representative of the United States government, who stated that “it is not enough that there is an RFMO; if there is no science-based management.”
“The effort to establish these organizations is worthless,” she concluded.
Peruvian government presence
It should be noted that the Minister of Production of Peru, Sergio González, is in Rome attending the COFI meeting.
In this framework, the Peruvian delegation actively participated in the debates, highlighting an intervention as a panelist in the “Special high-level event to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Voluntary Guidelines to achieve the sustainability of small-scale fisheries in the context of the food security and the eradication of poverty.
Peruvian Minister of Production of Peru, Sergio González
He also participated in the opening of the FAO COFI session and in the session on “State of global fisheries and aquaculture and progress made in the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and related instruments”, among others. activities.
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In this regard, he raised the need to implement rigorous management standards, especially in the international waters of the South Pacific, where the management carried out by the .png)
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