In a Statement to the 34th meeting of the UN FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), the Center for Development and Sustainable Fisheries (CeDePesca), a Latin American NGO devoted
to work together with the fishing sector, managers and researchers to improve practices in order to align them with the recommendations of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, thanked the COFI
Secretariat for the extraordinary and successful effort to get this 34th COFI meeting done. CeDePesca also expressed its support to the 34th COFI declaration and committed its own efforts to collaborate in achieving the declaration´s goals in the region.
The following is the full text of the Statement, made by Ernesto Godelman, CEO of CeDePesca:
Statement on behalf of CeDePesca regarding Agenda Item 8, ‘Supporting small-scale and
artisanal fisheries’
February 1st, 2021
Dear Member States´ and Observer Organizations´ Representatives of the UN FAO Committee on Fisheries:
The Center for Development and Sustainable Fisheries (CeDePesca, a Latin American NGO devoted to work together with the fishing sector, managers, and researchers to improve practices in order to get them aligned with the recommendations of the FAO Code of Conduct), wish to thank the COFI Secretariat for the extraordinary and successful effort to get this 34th COFI meeting done.
At the same time, CeDePesca wants to express its support to the 34th COFI declaration approved yesterday and to commit its own efforts to collaborate in achieving the declaration´s goals in our region.
Regarding the celebration in 2022 of the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, we want to share with the distinguished delegates our purpose of working to make it successful in the seven countries where we are currently developing projects.
We particularly noted the call of the FAO general director about the importance of involving the value chain, and specially the consumers, into the efforts to get a sustainable seafood production.
This is of great importance in countries where most of the artisanal production is oriented to satisfy the needs of local consumption and food security. We must work with the local supply chains: intermediaries, distributors, popular markets and restaurants, to include all of them into responsible trade and consumption as the better way to support the fishers, farmers, and managers efforts to achieve a sustainable use of the aquatic resources and to avoid steps back.
These efforts are more important than never before in the context of the pandemic that is razing most of the world.
We sincerely hope that we all can work together to achieve the goals of providing more visibility to the artisanal fisheries and aquaculture along 2022 and to consolidate real progress for such important activity.
CeDePesca