Report Of The Regional Consultation For Europe And North America On The Development Of Guidelines For Sustainable Aquaculture Gsa Virtual Meeting 27 29 April 2021

This document represents the final report of the Regional Consultation for Europe and North America on the development of Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA), held virtually from 27 to 29 April 2021. The objectives of the consultation were to: share current policies and practices related to aquaculture in the regions; review existing regional and national instruments for sustainable aquaculture; develop a list of priority thematic modules considering regional and national strengths and challenges; propose and prioritize possible case study concepts linked to one or more thematic modules; and identify regional priority areas to be included in the GSA.

This catalogue aims to improve the dissemination and outreach of FAO’s knowledge products and overall publishing programme. By providing information on its key publications in every area of FAO’s work, and catering to a range of audiences, it thereby contributes to all organizational outcomes. From statistical analysis to specialized manuals to children’s books, FAO publications cater to a diverse range of audiences. This catalogue presents a selection of FAO’s main publications, produced in 2023 or earlier, ranging from its global reports and general interest publications to numerous specialized titles. In addition to the major themes of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it also includes thematic sections on climate change, economic and social development, and food safety and nutrition.

The report presents the results of Eastern Europe and Central Asia regional consultation on the development of Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA). The consultation was held as a virtual meeting from 29th to 31st March 2021. It was attended by representatives from member countries in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and it is the fifth of a series of regional consultations to share current policies and practices, review the existing regional sustainable aquaculture instruments, develop a list of priority thematic modules and discuss regional case study concepts.

In line with the recommendation of the FAO Sub-Committee on Aquaculture of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI-SCA) made in 2017, as endorsed by the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 2018, regarding the preparation of the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA), the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division organized, virtually, the second Expert Consultation on the development of GSA from 18 to 22 October 2021. Thirteen experts from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America attended the consultation. They were supported by seven resource persons and the FAO Secretariat. The objective of the consultation was to discuss and review the drafts of the GSA, the accompanying “Action-Oriented Guidance for Transforming Aquaculture for Greater Contribution to Achieve the SDGs: Key Interconnected Actions to Guide Decision-Makers and Practitioners (AOG)”, and the background document used for the preparation of the GSA and the AOG. The consultation significantly improved these three documents and technically endorsed the drafts of the GSA and the AOG. The experts agreed to the next step of submitting these drafts to the next session of COFI-SCA for further guidance.

The Sub-Committee on Aquaculture at its tenth session held in Trondheim, Norway from 23 to 27 August 2019 commended FAO’s work on the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA) and provided guidance on the way forward, including support for regional consultations. The Sub-Committee further encouraged Members to contribute to the GSA by sharing their experiences in series of regional consultations. The first regional consultation was held for Africa, and this was the second regional consultation for Asia. Participants to regional consultations: (i) shared current policies and practices related to aquaculture in the region; (ii) reviewed existing regional and national governance instruments for sustainable aquaculture; (iii) developed a list of priority thematic modules, including regional and national strengths and challenges; (iv) discussed regional case study concepts, and; (v) identified regional priority areas to be included in the GSA. The Consultation for Asia occurred from 30 November to 2 December 2020.

The regional consultation held in Mali, Bamako, on 29–30 November 2019, was organized as a series of regional consultations of the project entitled “Support to global consultations to developing guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture”, which was supported by the Government of the Republic of Mali, FAO Regional Office for Africa and the Korea Maritime Institute of the Republic of Korea. This consultation was the first of a series of regional consultations on the Development of “Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA)”. It aimed to: 1. Share current policies and practices related to aquaculture in the region and inform the African region of the development process of GSA. 2. Review existing regional sustainable aquaculture guidance, and assess potential gaps that GSA could help fill. 3. Develop a list of priority thematic modules, including regional strengths and challenges. 4. Discuss regional case study concepts proposed at the FAO Tenth Session of the COFI Sub-Committee on Aquaculture (SCA) held in Trondheim, Norway on 23-27 August 2019, and identify additional case study topics associated with one or more thematic Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture modules, as outlined by the expert consultation on the development of the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture, held at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy on 17-20 June 2019.

This is the final report of three regional consultations for Asia, Near East and North Africa, and Latin America held virtually between September 2021 and January 2022. The objective of the consultations was to deliberate on a draft guidance “Advancing end-to-end traceability along capture fisheries and aquaculture value chains”. The consultations confirmed the relevance and comprehensiveness of the proposed critical tracking events (CTEs) and key data elements (KDEs) in aquaculture and capture fisheries. They also highlighted that due consideration should be paid to small-scale producers, while recognizing equivalency of data and flexibility in data needs, particularly for developing countries.

The International Ocean Governance (IOG) Agenda for the future of our oceans has contributed since 2016 to a concerted and rules-based approach to improve the governance framework, reduce pressures, facilitate a more sustainable blue economy worldwide, and strengthen international research and data. The progress report published in 20192 demonstrated the EU's strong commitment to ocean governance with many of the Agenda's deliverables completed or nearing completion. In addition, it is recognised as one of the "key examples" of EU policies creating multilateralism in the report on "The European Union's Global Strategy: Three years on, moving forward". Despite progress by the EU and the global community to improve ocean governance, further action is necessary in light of the scientific evidence on the worrying status of the ocean and its resources. Action can build on multilateral dialogue, international cooperation and on strong partnerships to deliver on global sustainability commitments pertaining to the ocean. The Council Conclusions on Oceans and Seas adopted in 20193 support the development of the IOG Agenda. The European Parliament's resolution on the European Green Deal in 20204 highlights the importance of fostering the role of the EU as a global leader in ocean governance and urges the Commission to give the Green Deal a "blue" dimension. Likewise, NGOs are urging further action for improving international ocean governance for "Life below Water" and call for achieving a healthy ocean by 2030. As part of the response, the Commission is already working on a new Communication on sustainable blue economy that will be adopted in Spring 2021. President von der Leyen mandated Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Ocean and Fisheries to make Europe a leader on international ocean governance in the UN, as well as in other regional and international forums. Against this background, the European Commission and the European External Action Service launched a targeted consultation to assess development needs and options for the EU's IOG Agenda. The consultation aimed to identify relevant actions in light of today's challenges and opportunities to deliver global sustainability objectives for the ocean, in particular, the Sustainable Development Goal on the ocean (SDG14) under the 2030 Agenda, in support of the European Green Deal. The consultation complements the International Ocean Governance (IOG) Forum that the European Commission launched in association with the European External Action Service with a virtual event on 22-24 April 2020. The IOG Forum brings stakeholder and experts together to support the development of the EU's IOG Agenda. The results of this consultation feed the work of the forum notably the discussions on draft recommendations for action at its second virtual meeting on 14-16 December 2020. Final recommendations will be presented at the 3rd virtual meeting of the IOG Forum on 20 April 2021. The consultation gathered input from a wide array of stakeholders, notably governments, international organisations, NGOs, financial institutions, academic, scientific, social and economic partners, within and beyond Europe. This report presents a summary of the contributions received in the consultation. Views summarised in this document are stakeholder views. They do not represent the views of the European Commission or the European External Action Service.

The Expert Consultation on Voluntary Guidelines for Transshipment was held virtually from 11 to 15 October and reconvened on 3 November 2021 to adopt this report. FAO has undertaken an in-depth global study on transshipment which confirmed that a lack of regulation, monitoring and control increases the risk of fish caught through illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing entering the seafood supply chain, undermining sustainable and socially responsible fisheries. The study was published in 2020 and a summary of the findings was presented to the Thirty-fourth Session of COFI in February 2021. COFI welcomed the study and called upon FAO to proceed with developing draft voluntary guidelines for the regulation, monitoring and control of transshipment. It also called upon FAO to convene an Expert Consultation to review the preliminary draft to be prepared by the FAO Secretariat. On the basis of that initial draft, the Expert Consultation elaborated a draft of the voluntary guidelines for transshipment that will be submitted for consideration and review by a Technical Consultation on Voluntary Guidelines for Transshipment to be held from 7 to 11 March 2022.

The conservation, sustainable use and development of aquatic genetic resources (AqGR) is critical to the future supply of fish. The State of the World’s Aquatic Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is the first ever global assessment of these resources, with the scope of this first Report being limited to cultured AqGR and their wild relatives, within national jurisdiction. The Report draws on 92 reports from FAO member countries and five specially commissioned thematic background studies. The reporting countries are responsible for 96 percent of global aquaculture production. The Report sets the context with a review of the state of world’s aquaculture and fisheries and includes overviews of the uses and exchanges of AqGR, the drivers and trends impacting AqGR and the extent of ex situ and in situ conservation efforts. The Report also investigates the roles of stakeholders in AqGR and the levels of activity in research, education, training and extension, and reviews national policies and the levels of regional and international cooperation on AqGR. Finally, needs and challenges are assessed in the context of the findings from the data collected from the countries. The Report represents a snapshot of the present status of AqGR and forms a valuable technical reference document, particularly where it presents standardized key terminology and concepts.