Honiara Summit reviews efforts to restore fish stocks and manage them sustainably
Some 38 percent of global fish stocks are classified as overfished, which means continuous efforts to improve fisheries management and restore stocks are crucial if Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.4 is to be achieved.
This concern, especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the Pacific region, was the focus of the recent Honiara Summit in Solomon Islands.
SDG 14.4 sets this target: "By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics."
Achieving this is crucial as sustainable fisheries play a vital role not only in marine ecosystem health, but also in global food security and livelihoods, with around 600 million people depending on aquatic food systems globally.
The Summit analyzed the progress made toward implementing SDG 14.4. It examined the current state of global fish stocks and explored how recent developments in methodologies for stock assessment and the adoption of efficient management approaches have enhanced the capacity of countries to report and manage their fisheries sustainably.
Not a box ticking exercise
Manuel Barange, Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, emphasized what was needed to make progress.
"One does not tick a box on fisheries sustainability. Achieving it demands a continuous commitment to better tools, robust but also adaptive and flexible management systems capable of responding, for example to the impacts of climate change on the distribution and abundance of exploitable populations," Barange said.
"Achieving fisheries sustainability is not just an ecological objective but an economic and social one too, with implications for food security and nutrition," he said.
He also unveiled an update to the methodology FAO uses to calculate the State of Stocks Index (SoSI), which gauges the sustainability of fisheries in all ocean regions. SoSI is computed every two years and presented in the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) flagship report. The enhanced methodology now offers a more accurate, comprehensive, and objective assessment of the state and health of stocks. This work has already contributed to capacity building in data and information systems, fisheries assessment, and fisheries management, areas that require improvement in many regions. The results of the global assessment will serve as foundation for future capacity development programmes.
Barange also presented the latest results using the updated methodology for Fishing Areas 71 and 81, both located in the Pacific Ocean. Full results will be published later this year in a Report on the State of World Fishery Resources, to be launched at the UN Oceans Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France.
He was also candid about the difficulty of the task faced. "While the challenges of sustainability may be described in simple terms, the solutions are neither simple nor easily agreed. They require complex and negotiated trade-offs, political will and innovative solutions," Barange said.
Science vital for sustainable fisheries
Solutions were also explored. The Summit stressed the vital role of science in achieving sustainable fisheries and SDG Target 14.4 and called for decision-making based on the best available scientific information, especially for small-scale and data-limited fisheries. It also discussed innovations, successes and challenges in monitoring, control and surveillance at national and regional levels, highlighting innovative and effective mechanisms, aided by evolutions in technology, that are being implemented in a number of jurisdictions.
Sessions at the Summit tackled themes including progress in the implementation of SDG 14.4, the role of regional fishery bodies in supporting the implementation of SDG14.4, and supporting fisheries sustainability through implementation of international instruments.
Discussions on the Pacific's response to SDG14.4 highlighted that the region is a global leader in the management of tuna fisheries and has the world's healthiest stocks of tuna. Assessments conducted under the austices of the Western & Central Pacific Fisheries Commission of tropical tuna stocks show that they have already achieved the SDG 14.4.1 sustainability indicator. However, many local fish stocks remain unassessed or are poorly assessed, mostly coastal, small-scale, and data-limited.
The key conclusions of the Honiara Summit listed in the outcomes communiqué will be taken up at UNOC3 later this year and in other relevant forums. This will ensure that fisheries are at the forefront of global discussions on ocean health, conservation and sustainable use.
Honiara and Nice
The Honiara Summit, hosted by the Government of the Solomon Islands and organized together with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), FAO, the Pacific Community (SPC), the Office of the Ocean Pacific Commissioner (OPOC) and the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Ocean, with the support of several partners , was held from 24 to 27 February 2025 in Solomon Islands. It brought together five Heads of State, 10 Ministers and over 300 global representatives of fisheries administrations, Regional Fisheries Bodies and stakeholders.
At UNOC in Nice from 9 to 13 June 2025 SDG14 will again be centre stage. The Conference will support further action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development and identify more ways to support the implementation of SDG14.
Above article are excerpt from:
https://www.fao.org/fishery/news/41487/en?status=published
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