FAO's Fisheries and Aquaculture Department newsletter of the Deep-Sea High Seas (DSHS) Programme. In this issue:

• ABNJ Deep Seas Project Approved
• RFMO Collaboration
• New Identification Tools for Deep-sea
• Cartilaginous Fishes of the Indian Ocean
• Testing the VME database
• FAO Regional Workshops on VMEs in the SE Atlantic Ocean and North Pacific

In recent years, with dramatic rises and increased volatility in food prices, there is a risk that the diets of the poor will become even less diverse and more dependent on starchy staples. There is therefore a renewed emphasis on the production, access, distribution and utilization of common, micronutrient-rich foods. Fish, especially nutrient-rich small fish, from the wild and from aquaculture, can play a vital role in improving human nutrition.

Ahead of the ICN2 Second International Conference on Nutrition, FAO and WorldFish have prepared a paper to consider how the contribution of fish to diets, particularly those of the poor, can be maximized.

For more information:
FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department
ICN2
WorldFish

FAO’s Nicole Franz, Fishery Planning Analyst, Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, explains FAO’s efforts in the development and implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication. Listen to the interview at the World Forum of Fisher Peoples.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Environment, with technical support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a new project whose goal is to generate scientific information on the state of fish stocks, from the maritime territory of Equatorial Guinea.

FAO, as part of a global collective effort, has contributed to ensuring that international trade in specimens of five shark species and all manta ray species, including their meat, gills and fins, will need to be accompanied by permits and certificates confirming that they have been harvested sustainably and legally.

New controls adopted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), effective as of 14 September 2014, will apply to the oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus), scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini), great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran), smooth hammerhead shark (Sphyrna zygaena), porbeagle shark (Lamna nasus) and manta rays (Manta spp.) as they are now included in CITES Appendix II.

Árni M. Mathiesen, FAO's Assistant Director-General of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department said: "FAO will continue its effort and work closely with CITES on immediate actions in support of the implementation of CITES listings of sharks and manta rays, including the provision of legal assistance for fishery legislation, support to the development and implementation of National Plans of Action for sharks and rays, and activities on traceability."

In 1999 FAO Members adopted the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks. Since then, FAO has organized workshops and developed guidelines to help member countries in developing capacity and providing technical support in the effort to protect all shark and ray species. FAO is now continuing its effort and developing a shark fin guide which will enable automatic identification of shark fins through image recognition software.

Read press release

See brochure on CITES listing of shark species