First World Summit on Fisheries Sustainability to be held at WFE 09

It is an initiative by the Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, with the collaboration of the FAO and the participation of the Imperial College, London. The main objective is to define the basic guidelines that must drive the fisheries industry towards a sustainable activity from three different points of view: biological sustainability of species, financial sustainability of companies and social sustainability of the communities that make a life from fisheries. During the one day event, the administrations, environmental organizers and the fisheries industry will discuss how they will channel their respective responsibilities in order to achieve this eagerly awaited triple objective.

A survey recently published by the World Bank states that, each year, the losses of financial benefits in fisheries amount to 50 billion dollars; these losses arise from the wrong management of resources and could be recovered with the correct management of the same.

According to the Assistant Director-General of FAO, Ichiro Nomura, the management of resources must be "effective and efficient"', especially taking into account that "20% of the animal protein intake for approximately 1.5 billion people, or at least 15% for about 3.0 billion people in our world", comes from fish. Starting from this data, and considering the exploitation level to which most of the world fisheries are subject, FAO defends the search of "a viable balance between utilization and conservation". "The idea of inexhaustible fisheries must be replaced by the recognition that access to fisheries must be restricted if they are to sustainably generate wealth and to alleviate poverty," he explains.

Each World Fishing Exhibition has traditionally been, apart from an international showcase of the latest technology in the fisheries industry, a forum for debate. And 2009 will be no different; the Fifth Fisheries Ministers Conference, an event that has taken place in parallel to each of the previous World Fishing Exhibitions held in Vigo, will be celebrated again at Vigo 09. The Fisheries Ministers' Conference is outstanding due both to the general subject debated and the attendance of top authorities from the fisheries sector of different fisheries countries.

Please click the link above to read an extract from an interview with David Agnew, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Imperial College of London, on the First World Summit on Fisheries Sustainability.