Description

The Committee on Fisheries at its fifteenth session not only carried out its statutory duties in reviewing the work of FAO in fisheries, but also constituted the technical phase of the FAO World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development. In preparation for the 1984 policy phase of the World Fisheries Conference, the Committee undertook a thorough analysis of key issues involved in fisheries management and development. The analysis served as a basis for its recommendations regarding a se ries of basic elements from which the guidelines and principles of a Strategy for Fisheries Management and Development might be formulated by FAO for submission to the World Fisheries Conference. It also approved the elaboration of the following five Action Programmes to be submitted to the World Fisheries Conference: fisheries planning, management and development (covering both marine and inland fisheries); development of small-scale fisheries; aquaculture; trade in fish and fisheries products, and promotion of the role of fisheries in alleviating undernutrition. It suggested a number of steps that might be taken by the Director-General to finalize the draft Strategy and associated Action Programmes before their submission to the World Fisheries Conference. The Committee fully supported the level of resources and the activities proposed for the fisheries programme for the biennium 1984¿85 and recommended the continuation of the Special Programme of Assistance to Developing Countr ies in the Development and Management of Fisheries in their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ Programme). Recommendations were made by the Committee in regard to the updating and modification of the FAO/UNEP Draft Global Plan of Action for the Conservation, Management and Utilization of Marine Mammals.