The Smart Fish Co-Management (SFC) project launch coincides with the Virtual Myanmar Project Area Identification Meeting

On 24 and 25 November 2020 the Smart Fish Co-Management (SFC) will run a virtual meeting to bring together stakeholders representing various interests around fisheries co-management in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to review the objective, outputs, and activities of the project.

On this occasion, the project will kick-off its five years' work plan and all planned activities as part of the Korea FAO Sustainable and Innovative Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme (KOFAP), a joint collaboration agreement among the Government of the Republic of Korea and the FAO Fisheries Division.

The project aims at improving the capacity of governments and fishing communities in fisheries co-management, as a solution to face all the emerging challenges that threaten the sustainable use of fishery resources and might affect fish stocks sustainability, resources exploitation, as well as social aspects, economies, livelihoods, food security, and nutrition levels.

Conceived to support the co-management capacity, evaluation and building, the SFC also intends to develop sustainable coastal livelihoods in fishing communities in selected countries, the first of which is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Through open dialogue and collaborative consultation, the project will look at enhancing the livelihoods of fishing communities, to enable socio-economic uplift of the fisherfolks and their communities.

The core of the dialogue with all Myanmar stakeholders will be to develop the best cooperation and coordination mechanism at state, region, district, township, ward, and village levels. Part of the discussion will also be site selection criteria, to put into the field the fisheries co-management evaluation approach.

FAO and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) are organizing a two-day webinar to raise awareness, share experience and knowledge on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in aquaculture for better understanding including challenges and priority issues.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to microorganisms – bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites – that have acquired resistance to antimicrobial agents, e.g. antibiotics. While this phenomenon can occur naturally through microbial adaptation to the environment, it has been exacerbated by inappropriate and excessive use of antimicrobial agents.

The attention to AMR has increased during the last 10 years. AMR is considered a global health threat and is predicted to hinder achievement of the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and World Health Organization (WHO) formed a collaborative tripartite to target this issue and has since adopted a Global Action Plan on AMR to assist the three organizations in achieving their strategic plans at international, regional and national levels.

The FAO’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) Technical Guidelines on the Prudent and Responsible Use of Veterinary Medicines in Aquaculture (No. 5 Suppl. 8) provide recommendations and general guidance on the use of veterinary medicines in aquaculture to responsible government agencies, private-sector aquaculture producers and aquatic animal health professionals. They emphasize the need for Member Countries to encourage the prudent and responsible use of veterinary medicines in farmed aquatic populations. They emphasize, among the guiding principles, that responsible use of veterinary medicines in aquaculture requires collaboration among all stakeholders and a strong commitment to governance, awareness, best practices, surveillance and research, including monitoring of AMR, tracking of antimicrobial usage (AMU), assessing risk in different settings and evaluating  strategies to reduce AMR and maintain efficacy of antimicrobial agents. These guidelines  support the international aquatic animal health standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the food safety standards of the FAO/World Health Organization (WHO) Codex Alimentarius and the One Health platform under the FAO/OIE/WHO Tripartite Collaboration on AMR.

There are three basic questions pertaining to AMR in aquaculture:  

• What are the sources of AMR in aquaculture?
• What are the drivers of AMR development in aquaculture?
• How can AMR development in aquaculture be reduced or prevented?

The two-day webinar will provide some clarification on the above questions and increase our understanding of AMR issues in aquaculture through the sharing of expert knowledge and country level experience.

Further information can be obtained by writing to:

Melba.Reantaso@fao.org;
Bin.Hao@fao.org

FAO Aquaculture Newsletter (FAN) 62 is out

The sixty-second issue of the FAO Aquaculture Newsletter (FAN) is now available online. This issue highlights FAO’s work on aquaculture around the world, particularly FAO's activities in response to COVID-19, including gender dimensions of COVID-19 and its impact on women in the fisheries and aquaculture sector. Updates from around the world, including new developments in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, support to a recirculating aquaculture project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, establishment of demonstration sites in Morocco for marine cage farming, and creation of employment opportunities through sustainable aquaculture development activities targeted at youth in Côte d’Ivoire are also summarized.

The impacts of COVID-19 serve as a stark reminder of the need for aquaculture to be resilient to all types of shocks and to be prepared to manage future disasters, and two articles from the Latin America and Caribbean region outline FAO’s work in rebuilding a prawn hatchery in Dominica and supporting diversification and adaptation in Chile to the impacts of climate change. Relatedly, a thematic article focuses on adaptation of the seaweed sector in Zanzibar. The importance of communication of the positive aspects of aquaculture is examined in an article from the European region, underscoring the importance of social license and acceptability for the sustainable development of aquaculture. And while many of us are aware of the importance of fish to healthy diets, we also look at a success story of using fish in school feeding programmes, and how improved nutrition can have direct positive impacts on children’s education and quality of life. We take this opportunity to update readers on the continuing work towards the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture and the Global Information System on Farmed Types of Aquatic Genetic Resources. This issue also informs the readers on what FAO is planning for the future, providing updates on the Global Conference on Aquaculture, as well as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.

PDF: http://www.fao.org/3/cb1550en/cb1550en.pdf

Information: A. Stankus

The FAO Yearbook of fishery and aquaculture statistics is a compilation of statistical data on capture fisheries and aquaculture production, employment, commodities production and trade, apparent fish consumption and fishing fleets. It is structured into a booklet (containing summary tables, notes on major trends, concepts, classifications and a map of FAO major fishing areas) and a USB Card presenting the full yearbook package with all the key information and the complete set of statistical tables, available in electronic format at http://www.fao.org/fishery/static/Yearbook/YB2018_USBcard/index.htm.

A list of all Yearbook issues is available here.

Timely, reliable and comprehensive statistics are required for the effective monitoring and management of sustainable capture fisheries. To respond to this need, the Statistics and Information Branch of the FAO Fisheries Division has organized the online advanced course on Organization of Fisheries Statistics Systems (9-19 November 2020), in collaboration with the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), and through the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Zaragoza (IAMZ). Deadline for applications is 1 October 2020.

The course is targeted at fisheries managers, statisticians and researchers with responsibilities in fisheries data collection and the design, production and use of fisheries statistics in order to help them to design, plan and implement effective fisheries data collection programmes. The course covers topics going from the definition of the needs for statistics in support to fisheries management; the types of required data and collection systems; and the implementation of robust fisheries statistics and management information systems

The course will be offered online, in English, French and Spanish with simultaneous translation, with live streaming lectures, from FAO, the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), Eurostat, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and other national institutions.

For more information about the course, including registration details, please refer at http://edu.iamz.ciheam.org/FisheriesStatistics/en/