As the press release lead, this statement summed up the conclusions of the Global Ocean’s Action Summit, a three-day discussion on oceans and food security, held April 22-25 in The Hague. Over 600 government, business, NGO, and academic participants from 80 countries convened for the event, which was sponsored by the Government of the Netherlands, the World Bank, and the Food & Agriculture Organization.. The urgency of the challenge is reflected in the clarity and consensus of the summit results:
- The only way to end the war of attrition at sea is to stop overfishing and to eliminate overcapacity
- From now on, subsidies should be used for sustainable fisheries only;
- Illegal fisheries must be banned, and we need regional agreements with businesses to achieve this;
- Accelerating ratification of agreed mechanisms for improved fisheries practices to make the fisheries sector more sustainable, and tackling pollution;
- A stronger recognition of the impact of climate change on the oceans is crucial;
- The oceans must be a special focus in the United Nations Sustainability Objectives.
AISD’s Andrew Kaelin was invited to speak about ALLFISH, a public private partnership (PPP) with the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (IFCA), World Bank and the Global Environment Facility to promote sustainable fisheries and aquaculture models in developing countries. Mr. Kaelin highlighted the role of ALLFISH in stimulating public private cooperation using targeted small grants to support well-designed, performance-based partnerships.. The grants created opportunity to scale up, leverage investment, and influence fisheries practices in both capture and aquaculture projects in 10 countries. The event featured A PPP model developed and implemented in Mexico that engaged a local producers cooperative, a commercial company and a local NGO to shift from a capture to an aquaculture resource using Chinese production technology. ALLFISH also supported the first study of informal cross border fish trade across the Ugandan borders between Southern Sudan, Congo and Kenya.
Secretary of State John Kerry committed to sponsoring a follow on event, “Our Oceans,” which will be held in Washington DC June 16-17, 2014, focusing on sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and ocean acidification.
The final summary and outcomes of the Summit are available on the summit website.
ABOUT AISD
AISDevelopment Corp (AISD) has over 25 years experience in sustainable seafood markets in Asia, from habitats to markets. AISD’s approach to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development balances the demands of economic growth and food safety and security with sustainable coastal resources management and resilience. AISD combines the science with the market to produce safe, high quality and environmentally friendly products that meet market requirements.