Report Of The Ninth Meeting Of The Recofi Working Group On Aquaculture Virtual Meeting 6 7 October 2021

This report presents the outcomes and recommendations of Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI) Working Group on Aquaculture (WGA) at its ninth meeting. RECOFI is an Article XIV Body of the FAO Constitution, and the WGA is tasked with supporting the programme of work related to aquaculture. The outcomes contained in this report were recommended to RECOFI for endorsement and are a matter of record for the Commission. RECOFI's mandate, and specifically those of the WGFM contribute to serving FAO's better production, specifically BP2: Blue Transformation. Notably, the meeting endorsed a programme of work on aquaculture for RECOFI.

This document contains updates from the Delegates on RECOFI priority species, recognizing the importance in ensuring that the knowledge base of RECOFI is preserved and to reduce fragmented studies being conducted by individual RECOFI member countries. It was proposed that two species be added to the list of RECOFI priority species.

The fifth meeting of the Working Group on Aquaculture (WGA) of the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI) was held in Doha, the State of Qatar, on 27 October 2010 and was attended by the representatives from seven Member countries. The WGA reviewed the outcome and recommendations of the Special Meeting on RECOFI Consolidation and Development held in Rome in May 2010 at the request of the Commission at its Fifth session. The WGA in acknowledging the suggestions made at this meeting, requested the Secretariat to communicate to its Members the options to be considered for strengthening the Commission, well in advance of its next session. The WGA discussed national and regional follow-up actions to the two WGA technical workshops on Aquatic Animal Health (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 6-10 April 2008) and on Sustainable Marine Cage Aquaculture Development (Muscat, Oman, 25-27 January 2009). In general, it was agreed that the Members benefitted from technical workshops organized under the aegis of the Commission. It was nevertheless noted that an efficient mechanism on how to best ensure a coordinated and region-wide response and follow-up to key technical recommendations was needed. A brief presentation on the joint RECOFI WGA and Working Group on Fisheries Management (WGFM) Regional Technical Workshop on Spatial Planning for Marine Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture, held in Doha, Qatar, from 24 to 28 October, was presented highlighting the key recommendations and suggested follow-up outputs. The meeting discussed the Regional Aquaculture Information System (RAIS) following the presentation of the first Web analysis report which indicated a steady interest in the information system particularly among the Arabic speaking countries. Actions to further consolidate the system were discussed along with the need to improve the overall communication outputs at the national and regional levels. The WGA finalized its proposed programme of work for the next intersessional period, based also on the recommendations from its previous technical workshops. The WGA recognized that the Commission, based on its current level of financial contribution, may not have the required budget to implement a comprehensive aquaculture programme and recommended that some activities could be implemented with extrabudgetary funds. The WGA Focal Point of Qatar was nominated as the new WGA Chairperson.

The Second Meeting of the Regional Fisheries Data and Statistics Working Group (FDS-WG) was convened online in three (3) sessions with the main session on 12–16 October 2020, extended session on 25–28 May 2021 and conclusion session on 10 March 2022. The Regional FDS-WG is a joint working group of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), and Organization for Fisheries and Aquaculture of Central America (OSPESCA). The second meeting of the FDS-WG contributed to: • review the FDS-WG first meeting intersessional work and develop consensus and identify remaining work needed for technical session topics (vessel mapping, sub area and divisions, list of main and reference species, WECAFC-FIRMS stocks and fisheries inventory, Small-Scale Fisheries Matrix, and Data Collection Reference Framework and standards); • review country updates on national data collection systems, vessel registries, continuing challenges and needs; • identify, prioritize, and develop a criteria list of national countries capacity-building projects; • review the FDS-WG Terms of Reference; and • develop the FDS-WG2 Workplan for 2020–2022, including recommendations in preparation for the extended session, and initiate WG recommendations for the WECAFC Scientific Advisory Group (SAG).

This document contains the report of the Seventh Meeting of the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI) Working Group on Fisheries Management (WGFM), which was held in Kuwait City, the State of Kuwait, from 5 to 7 November 2013. The WGFM addressed and made decisions on matters concerning relevant follow-up to the sixth meeting of the RECOFI WGFM and to the Seventh Session of RECOFI that was held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, during the period from 14 to 16 May 2013. Country reports on the status of national fisheries were presented and discussed. The WGFM formulated further work on the socio-economics of fisheries in the region. The enforcement of the recommendation on minimum data reporting was reviewed and the urgent need to establish a data access policy and protocol was considered. The WGFM identified the objectives, data and skills requirement of the first regional joint assessment of the narrow-barred Spanish mackerel. The importance of the regional approach to fisheries management was recognized, initially with a particular focus on developing management procedures with regards to shrimp trawling and management plan for the narrow-barred Spanish mackerel.

This document contains the report of the Sixth Meeting of the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI) Working Group on Fisheries Management (WGFM), which was held on Doha, the State of Qatar from 5 to 8 November 2012. The WGFM addressed and made decisions on matters concerning relevant follow-up to fifth meeting of the RECOFI WGFM and to the sixth session of RECOFI. The status of the implementation of the fisheries management recommendation on minimum data reporting in recommendation RECOFI 6/2011/1 that entered into force on 1 January 2012 was discussed. The report on the RECOFI Workshop on Social and Economic Aspects of Fisheries in the RECOFI Region as well as the progress on the work of the Task Group for this activity was presented and discussed.

The Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) was established in 1948 and has undergone various reforms since then to adapt to the changing international governance of fisheries as well as reforms in the function and resourcing of FAO’s regional fishery bodies. This gradually induced a major crisis in the commission’s ability to develop and execute a work programme for servicing its members. The 36th Session of the Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission, held in May 2021, recognized the pressing issues of financial unsustainability and FAO's declining willingness and ability to provide Regular Programme funding for commission activities. It recommended the establishment of an 'ad hoc working group on the future of APFIC' to analyse issues and explore possible options to advise the commission on its future. In a majority, the ad hoc working group recommended to support temporary suspension of the commission, in the light of questionnaire responses and the limited prospects for identifying financial resources for the activities of the commission. It prepared a draft resolution regarding suspension for consideration by the 37th session and recommended that suspension of the commission should be for a period five years. Noting that some Member Countries supported continuation, the ad hoc working group also prepared a draft resolution for continuation of the activities of the commission, should this be the decision of the 37th session. The text of this resolution incorporates specific reference to the establishment of a financial arrangement to support the work programme of the commission.

This document contains the report of the second meeting of the Part 6 Working Group established by the Parties to the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, held in Rome, Italy, from 5 to 6 July 2018. The Part 6 Working Group reviewed outcomes of its first meeting, noting with respect to the funding mechanisms to be put in place to assist developing States with the implementation of the PSMA that further clarity is required in terms of the criteria and priorities that will be used to review applications for assistance. The Part 6 Working Group discussed at length the requirements of developing States for the implementation of the PSMA, noting legal, operational, and technical challenges and identifying where existing tools are already available to address these challenges. The Working Group received a detailed update of FAO’s Global Capacity Development Programme in support of the PSMA, as well as heard from other international organizations, non-governmental organizations, States and other entities on their respective capacity development initiatives in support of the PSMA. Finally, the Part 6 Working Group discussed the necessary functionalities of the capacity development portal that is to be developed and hosted by FAO under the PSMA global programme.