Fishing for Development

According to the Fishing for Development report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), aquatic ecosystems are under threat and call for better governance on the resource. Overexploitation, pollution, declining biodiversity, expansion of invasive species, climate change and ocean acidification are just but a few stressors mentioned in the report.

The authors of the report perceive that effective governance is needed at all levels across the sector in order to address these and other issues such as illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which remains a major threat to marine ecosystems. Countries have a responsibility, therefore, to ensure their fisheries and aquaculture resources are efficiently monitored and regulated.

The report highlights the main conclusions of a joint meeting convened to initiate a dialogue between the fisheries and the development policy communities between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank in April.

The meeting focused on four issues that are central to promoting sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in developing, emerging and developed countries alike:

• the challenge of rebuilding fish stocks while securing the integrity of ecosystems and
• the livelihoods that depend on them; 
• the potential for green growth in aquaculture; 
• the challenge of combating IUU fishing; 
• the role of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) in the management of high seas fish stocks and in developing cooperation between States that share fish stocks.

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(OECD/Ob)