As part of the new FAO series “Blue Innovators”, two podcasts have just been released.

Blue innovators across the globe are coming up with novel ways to protect the ocean, harness its resources sustainably, and support the communities that depend on the ocean for food and for their livelihoods.

Blue innovators: Plastic made from fish
Meet Lucy Hughes, the inventor a bioplastic made from fish waste. The graduate student's innovation won the 2019 James Dyson Award.
Click to listen.
Producer: Charlotta Lomas

Croissance bleue & innovation: L'intelligence artificielle pour lutter contre la pêche illégale
Badr Idrissi est fondateur d'Atlan Space, une start-up qui développe de l’intelligence artificielle pour lutter contre le phénomène, souvent associé à d’autres activités illégales comme le trafic de drogue ou d’armes, le trafic humain ou encore l’esclavage.
Click to listen.
Producer: Anais Hotin

FAO and NORAD convene a round table discussion: Lessons Learned on Response Actions to Aquatic Disease Emergencies

A Round-Table Discussion on Moving Forward through Lessons Learned on Response Actions to Aquatic Disease Emergencies will be held at FAO Headquarters from 16-18 December 2019. The Round Discussion will bring together some 43 aquatic animal health experts from 22 countries to review country experiences in dealing with health emergencies in aquatic animals in both aquaculture and wild populations. During Day 1, presentations on the role of the Competent Authority and national experiences in dealing with aquatic animal mass mortality events will be presented by representatives of 10 countries (People's Republic of China, Ghana, Indonesia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Norway, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam, United States of America, Zambia), followed by presentations of the role of NACA, OIE and FAO in supporting national disease outbreak investigations. On the morning of Day 2, a series of presentations on "Producer and research/academic sectors: role and activities/experiences related to investigating specific mass mortalities of aquatic animals" will be given by MSD (Belgium), IZSV (Italy), WBVR (Netherlands), CEFAS (UK) and MSU (USA) , followed by a working group activity on "Essential elements of an effective and timely response action to aquatic animal disease emergencies". In the afternoon, a draft Decision Tree for Dealing with Aquatic Animal Mass Mortality Events (MMEs) will be presented by FAO as the basis for a guidance manual to assist front-line responders in dealing with investigations of MMEs. A Working Group discussion will be held on the Decision Tree, and the contents to be included in an associated guidance manual that will be developed. Finally, on Day 3, the participants will hear a presentation on the Global Burden of Animal Diseases, and will have Working Group discussions on "Considerations for developing a framework for the systematic impact assessment of aquatic animal diseases"; and a final session on "Identifying key elements for a project proposal to improve national response actions to aquatic animal disease emergencies." The Round-table Discussion is being lead by FAO Officers (Dr M. Reantaso, Dr H. Bin) assisted by Drs R. Arthur (Canada), D. Huchzermeyer (South Africa) and R. Subasinghe (Sri Lanka).

Annex 1

Annex 2

Presentations and documents

More information: Melba.Reantaso@fao.org

Since 2018, FAO and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) have developed and are implementing joint and agreed programs as well as work plans in a number of areas including the Aquaculture and Fisheries sectors.

In June this year, SADC Ministers approved the Best Practice Guidelines for Aquaculture Management in the region. In addition to the best practices guidelines, another tool was approved by the SADC at ministerial level, to help member states to monitor the implementation of the SADC Fisheries Protocol.

These tools will be used by member states to monitor progress and actions towards implementation of the regional Protocol on Fisheries which covers a number of the subsectors including Aquaculture, Management and Protection of the Aquatic Environment, Human Resources Development, Trade and Investment and Science and Technology.

In order to further cement the implementation of the Protocol on Fisheries, a high level workshop was recently held in Harare, Zimbabwe. In a speech read on his behalf, the FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa, Alain Onibon, said by adopting the Protocol on Fisheries, SADC members, have recognised that there are common interests in that hundreds of millions of their people are dependent on fisheries resources.

"The livelihoods of fishing communities in the SADC region are among the most insecure and vulnerable in the region. The growing population of the region is dependent on its fisheries resources with an overall increasing tendency towards an over-exploited status of marine and inland fisheries resources. Lack of management actions have resulted in an increasing tendency of depletion of resources but also in a tremendous waste of the value and income of these resources to this region. The consequences are most devastating for the poorest communities of the SADC region," said Onibon.

The Permanent Secretary, Mr Muneso Munodawafa paid a courtesy visit to the meeting on its second day and in his address to the meeting emphasised the importance of fish products to food security, nutrition, and the economies of the SADC including Zimbabwe. He said that the work undertaken at this meeting is encouraging and informing priority areas for SADC member states to fast-track domestication and implementation of the SADC Protocol on Fisheries.

SADC members expect the two tools developed with the support of the FAO to reinforce and inform bettered coordination and implementation of their programs in aquaculture and fisheries.

Since June 2019, the members of the SADC are now making collective efforts to monitor the implementation of their regional Protocol on Fisheries. Support from development partners is important, however these investments and planned actions that members are undertaking through their own means and participation in this process are vital in achieving a more sustainable management of the fisheries sectors.

A SADC Protocol Implementation workshop meeting held in Harare, 13 November 2019, marked the start of implementation of monitoring tools for the SADC Protocol on Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Guidelines implementation.

This is enabling the development of better coordinated interventions, partnerships, and actions towards a sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development in the region (both at regional and national levels). Partners such as Advance Africa, the African Centre of Excellence for Fisheries and Aquaculture, and others such as the German Cooperation are cooperating and collaborating with the FAO in supporting SADC interventions now, for 2020 and beyond.

Video presentation on "Hand-in-Hand The Blue Umbrella Programme" delivered on the occasion of the "Reunion Internacional para la Cooperacion Sur-Sur y Triangular en el marco de la Iniciativa" held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia on 26-27 November 2019.