Fisheries governance

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Region:    Global

Global estimate of discards Global

Food and Agricultural Organisation FAO - Project Dates:
September 2015 - April 2016

Description of Project:
FAO has previously commissioned two global assessments of fisheries discards. The first (in 1994) provided a yearly mean global estimate of 27 million tonnes of discards. A decade later, an update estimated global average yearly discards as 7.3 million tonnes, suggesting a decline in discarding during the 10 year period.  It is now 10 years since the previous report, and timely and prudent to provide an updated estimate to assess how the world is performing in reducing discards and seafood wastage.  In May 2015, an expert workshop on the “Methodology to assess and quantify the extent and impact of fisheries bycatch and discards” was held in Casablanca and involved 14 experts from most of the world’s continents. This workshop determined the scope, approach, methodology, process and timeline for a project that will provide an updated global discard report (Global Assessment of Discards).

Services Provided:

Poseidon undertook selected tasks under the FAO-led project “Global Assessment of Discards” being implemented by FAO and the Centre for Marketing Information & Advisory Services for Fishery Products in the Arab Region (INFOSAMAK).

Poseidon's main functions were to:

  1. Assist in the compilation of available discard information from cooperating agencies and available scientific literature with particular attention to information from RFMOs, major fishing nations and on major fisheries.

  2. Prepare a report containing a workplan for the compilation and analysis of available bycatch and discard information from cooperating agencies and non-RFMO RFBs from developing countries and on small-scale fisheries, including also advise on approaches to be taken concerning issues such as: (i) “low value/trash fish”, (ii) Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP) species, (iii) social and economic issues such as food security, (iv) causes and costs of discarding, (v) best practices on discards and bycatch, and (vi) other issues pertinent to responsible fisheries.

  3. Assist in the preparation and delivery of briefings, fact sheets and presentations on the project.

  4. Participate and present preliminary outputs and progress report in a workshop  organized to discuss and monitor progress and to agree on next steps in the project