Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission

Bacterium responsible for Early Mortality Syndrome of Shrimp – Crucial first step in finding effective ways to combat the disease

3 May 2013, Rome – In a major breakthrough, researchers at the University of Arizona have identified the causative agent behind a mysterious disease that has been decimating shrimp farms in Asia.

The disease, known as Shrimp Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPNS), has over the past two years caused large-scale die-offs of cultivated shrimp in several countries in Asia, where 1 million people depend on shrimp aquaculture for their livelihoods.

The Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) has released its biennial regional overview of the fisheries and aquaculture resources and production in the Asian region (Download it here)

Focus placed on responsibilities of flag states
28 February 2013, Rome - After several years of negotiations, countries have taken a major step against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries and related livelihoods.

International guidelines developed through an FAO-led consultative process aim to cut down on IUU fishing by improving the accountability of flag states - those countries which register fishing vessels and authorize them to fly their flags.

The Voluntary Guidelines for Flag State Performance were agreed upon after over five years of consensus-building among FAO Member Countries. The guidelines will be presented to the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) for endorsement at its next Session in June, 2014.

The guidelines include recommended approaches to urge, encourage, and help flag states comply with their international duties and obligations regarding the flagging and control of fishing vessels. They also present possible actions in response to non-compliance.

While no exact figures are known, it is widely accepted that IUU fishing has escalated in the past two decades and its magnitude is considerable.

DHAKA (AlertNet) Syful Islam (Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:39 GMT)

Bangladesh has launched a community-based insurance scheme to provide financial security to over two million coastal fishermen whose work is becoming increasingly dangerous as the number and severity of storms increase and become more unpredictable.

Fishermen have welcomed the scheme, which is being introduced by the state-run Jiban Bima Corporation (JBC) in 15 coastal districts, and a significant number have already enrolled in it, each paying Tk 1,240 ($16) a year for insurance cover of Tk 200,000 ($2,500).

“If any fisherman dies after buying a policy, his family members or nominated person will get Tk 200,000 as compensation,” project manager Dulal Chandra Nandi told AlertNet. “If any policy buyer remains missing for six months, his heirs will get 50 percent of the claim and the rest will be given after another six months if the policy holder remains untraced.”

He said coastal fishermen are very poor and highly vulnerable to cyclones and other disastrous weather events. They are also easy prey for river pirates, and subject to attacks by tigers while fishing near the Sundarbans.

Dili, 14 November 2012 - Timor-Leste completes first national census of fishing boats

Timor-Leste has completed its first ever national census of fishing vessels, an achievement which will greatly facilitate the sustainable management of the nation’s fisheries resources.

Between October 2011 and October 2012, a Mobile Licensing Service visited 192 fishing centers in all 11 districts throughout the country. There they gathered information on almost every fishing boat currently operative in the country. A total of 2,865 boats were registered during the process, of which 1,324 were issued licenses.
Information on all the boats has been entered into a publicly accessible online system (www.peskador.org) where if forms a national census of fishing effort.

The service was operated by the Department of General Fishing Inspection of the National Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NDFA) in partnership with the Spanish-funded Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia (RFLP) which is executed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Mr. Lourenco dos Reis Amaral, the Chief of the NDFA’s Department of Fisheries Inspection said, “This is a major achievement for Timor-Leste. By facilitating a simpler and more effective process we now know how many fishing boats we have, where they are based and the type of fishing gear they use. This data will greatly facilitate better planning and management for the sustainable use of Timor-Leste’s fisheries. At the same time by visiting communities the mobile licensing team has also helped build better relationships between the authorities and fishers.”

Mr. Man Ho So, FAO’s Representative to Timor-Leste said, “This is an excellent example of how a relatively small-scale, but well targeted activity can deliver concrete results that will have very real and long lasting benefits for the people of Timor-Leste.”

The information gathered during the process has also been put to practical use during search and rescue missions for missing fishers. For example when an empty boat washed ashore on Atauro Island on 29 May 2012, the registration number on the boat allowed authorities to quickly find out exactly where it had come from and who the owner was. A search and rescue operation was launched along the route the boat had travelled, and although unfortunately the fisher was not found, the boat was returned to the fishing household.

11 October 2012, Bangkok, Thailand A regional consultation by national officials and international experts on sustainable intensification of aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific today adopted a new framework to sustainable intensify farm raised fish, or aquaculture.

FAO, the Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) jointly convened the consultation as a regional initiative to support the sustainable intensification of aquaculture in the Asian region. The consultative workshop concluded that intensified aquaculture requires an increasingly robust regulatory framework to limit the potential impacts of overcrowding, environmental pollution, unregulated movements, biosecurity, food safety and the need for quality assurance on inputs.

According to FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative, Hiroyuki Konuma, “Demand for fish and fish products has been rapidly increasing as capture fisheries are declining. Aquaculture is the key to the future growth of fish production and we have to work together to meet the challenge posed by intensification, but it must be environmentally sustainable, based on the sustainable intensification of aquaculture approach.

Simon Funge-Smith, Secretary Asia Pacific Fishery Commission said, “For the past three decades Asia has contributed the major part of the aquaculture growth now standing at 90 percent of world aquaculture production. Fish make up about 17 percent of people’s animal protein intake and are important protein and nutrient rich food resource, with the aquaculture sector currently providing more than 50 percent of the fish and aquatic products for direct human consumption in the Asian region.”

The consultation framework agreed a range of recommendations, including:

Intensifying aquaculture production by improving the performance of the cultured species. For example, there are considerable performance gains possible with selective breeding since most aquaculture stocks are not highly domesticated or remain essentially wild.

The framework calls for the establishment of a national and regional domestication and breeding programmes for commodity species. Private collaboration initiatives in domestication and brood stock programs should be established for Asia to benefit from the domestication of several other commodity species.

It also urges countries to strengthen aquaculture biosecurity and health management. This is because intensified aquaculture depends on high levels of health management and is more vulnerable to the impacts of disease outbreak due to higher densities.

The framework further calls on countries to improve the efficient utilization of feeds and feed ingredients and to review and strength national feed standards.

The agreement also recommends that the intensification of aquaculture not only increases production per unit area, but also includes the conversion of other production systems to incorporate aquaculture. Aquaculture is increasingly challenged for space and water in the region and so innovations will include the use of new areas for aquaculture and increased water efficiency.

Climate change and climate variability already impacts aquaculture in the Asian region, with storm damage to coastal areas, flooding and unseasonal water shortages are now frequent threats. As aquaculture intensifies, so does investment and concentration of assets, increasing the risk of catastrophic loss and consequent impact on livelihoods.

The consultation also noted that aquaculture has an obligation to reduce its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and needs to improve the efficiency of its energy use.

The agreed framework recognizes that there is an increasing role for certification when it comes to driving demand for sustainability. It recommends that this be achieved through a range of mechanisms such as public certification, third party certification, as well as responsible sourcing arrangements by buyers.

The Director-General of NACA, Ambekar Eknath, said: “Aquaculture presents considerable opportunities to diversify rural livelihoods – especially in staple, crop-based farming systems that are becoming economically uncompetitive because of their small size. Intensifying aquaculture can offer a more competitive farming strategy that can maximize the productivity of small land units. However, there are risks and constraints associated with the intensification or diversification of small farm systems and this requires specific policies, as well as financial and technical assistance.”

For further information and the full text of the recommendations please see:
www.apfic.org
www.enaca.org

Danang, Viet Nam, 22nd September 2012

The Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) has called for more effective management of the trawl sector in Asia, which balances the need to sustain marine fishery ecosystems with the demand for feeds for aquaculture.

Meeting in Da Nang, Viet Nam, APFIC members recognized the challenges facing the region’s fisheries including overfishing in coastal areas particularly from trawling and the use of non-selective fishing gears. At the same time the need to sustain the livelihoods of large numbers of small-scale fishers as well as to meet the demand for low value fish/trash fish for feeds in marine/coastal aquaculture was noted.

Dr. Simon Funge-Smith, Secretary of APFIC said, “We need to develop a vision for more effective management of the trawl sector in Asia. This vision should balance the demands for fish for human consumption and aquaculture feeds with the need to sustain ecosystems and improve capture fishery quality.”

APFIC members agreed to work towards better management of the region’s trawl fisheries including the development of enhanced risk-based assessment methods, the availability of best practice advice for trawl management and the reduction of trawl bycatch.

The APFIC members furthermore recognized the considerable contribution the region’s aquaculture industry makes to food security and export income.

“Asian aquaculture continues to be a major growth sector but it is largely underpinned by the use of feeds made from low value or trash fish from marine trawl fisheries. The region needs to work towards the availability and use of responsibly sourced fish feeds,” said Dr. Funge-Smith.

More details available at www.apfic.org

Da Nang, Viet Nam, 17-22 September 2012
Representatives of the member countries of the Asia Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) and Regional partner organizations will meet in Da Nang, Viet Nam 17-22 September to discuss the management and governance of fisheries and aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific.

Without stronger commitment target to eliminate child labour by 2016 will be missed

11 June 2012, Rome - The internationally agreed target of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016 will be missed if countries don't step up their efforts to combat child labour in agriculture, FAO warned today ahead of the World Day against Child Labour (12 June 2012).

Worldwide 215 million children are child labourers, of whom around 130 million boys and girls between 5 and 17 work in agriculture, including livestock, fisheries, and forestry. Many of them are engaged in hazardous work. Only one in five child labourers is paid - most are unpaid family workers, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). Pervasive poverty is both a main cause and consequence of child labour in rural areas.

Hazardous work often harms a child's health, safety or morals. A child working in fields where pesticides have been applied, staying up all night on a fishing boat, or carrying loads so heavy that they harm the development of the child's body - all these are far too common examples of hazardous work in agriculture.

"Child labour is a human rights abuse and is an obstacle to sustainable development of agriculture and food security," said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva.

Rome, 13 March 2012 - International talks convened at FAO last week to finalize negotiations on a proposed set of voluntary global guidelines on responsible governance of land tenure and access rights to land, fisheries and forest resources have concluded successfully.

The proposed guidelines are now set to be considered for final approval by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) at a special session in Rome in mid-May.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security outline principles and practices that governments and other actors can refer to when administering land, fisheries and forests rights in order to serve the best interests of their populations and promote food security and rural development.