The
25th Session of the Committee on Fisheries(COFI) of the United
Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reconfirmed
the need to promote research on interactions between marine mammals
and fisheries--an issue agreed in the previous meeting.
 The predation
of marine species by cetaceans has been increasingly perceived
as affecting commerical fisheries the world over.
The meeting,
held in Rome February 24-28, was attended by 120 member States
and a
number of international organizations and non-governmental
organizations. The Japanese delegation was headed by Mr. Akira
Nakamae, Councilor of the Fisheries Agency. From the private-sector
in Japan, representatives from the Institute of Cetacean Research(ICR),
the Riches of the Sea and many other fisheries-related organizations
took part.
The meeting
also agreed for the FAO to advance its work on comprehensive management
of the marine ecosystem.
25th FAO COFI in Rome |
Other
important outcome of the meeting included the agreement on the implementation
of countermeasures against Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported(IUU)
fisheries, which is a global issue threatening law-abiding fishing
activities. The Japanese proposal to expedite the implementation
of the FAO International Plan of Action to this effect was adopted.
Also the meeting again requested member States to ensure implementation
on the International Plans of Action regarding shark resource management
and incidental catch of seabirds in fishing activities.
Further FAO
COFI gave asessement of social and economic roles of small-scale
fishing communities and the role played by fisheries cooperative
associations. In this connection Japan proposed the outcome of the
international symposium on multiple roles of fishing and fishing
communities held earlier in February in Aomori, Japan.
Consumption of Fish by Marine
Mammals Threatens to Undermine
Conservation Efforts
--Japan Tells FAO COFI--
Japan's delegation
to the 25th Session of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's(FAO)
Committee on Fisheries has urged the Committee to continue its efforts
to develop and implement ecosystem models as a way to improve fisheries
management, according to a press release issued by Japan's Fisheries
Agency recently.
Joji Morishita, Deputy Director of the Far Seas
Fisheries Division of Japan's Fisheries Agency,presented preliminary
findings from Japan's whale research program in the North Pacific.
He told reporter afterwards that "failure to account for the huge
volume of marine resources consumed by whales in the ecosystem models
being developed for fisheries management threatens to undermine fisheries
conservation efforts" and that "the
matter of fish consumption by whales and ecosystem modeling is the
primary focus of Japan's whale research program in the North Pacific." |
