Visitas: 53
*ByAntonioGarzadeYta,Ph.D.
At the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture (SCA) meeting in Mexico in 2023, are commendation was made to FAO member countries to adopt the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA), which I believe is the organization’s greatest achievement in recent years.
For those still wondering what the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI) is, it is the place where all countries come together to set the course for the world’s fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the short-, medium- and long-term agenda. To put it in perspective, COFI is to countries what WAS is to aquaculture professionals.
COFI is held every two years at the FAO headquarters in Rome, where the work of the subcommittees on fish trade, fisheries management and aquaculture is approved. These sub-committees meet every two years in different countries around the world, in the years between COFIs, and work continuously to achieve the goals set at those meetings. The last Sub-Committee on Aquaculture (SCA) was held in Mexico and the next one will be held in Turkey.
It has been an honor for me to participate in both COFI and SCA since 2014 as WAS liaison to FAO, a relationship that has been consolidating and, if COVID had not changed the plans of humanity, would have been crowned with the organization of our World Event and the SCA in parallel in the city of Merida in 2022. But well, the most important thing is that both the writer and you, who are reading these lines, we are here to tell the story.
To be honest, I think that the last few SCAs have gone by without much pain or glory, but it was at the last one, in Mexico in 2023, that the recommendation was made to FAO member countries to adopt the Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture (GSA), which I think is the greatest achievement of the organization in recent years.
I invite you to read them, because they actually say what all professionals in the sector know should be done, and what we have been relentlessly repeating for many years to countless decision-makers who have not understood, or have not wanted to understand, not only what aquaculture is capable of doing, but everything that is required for it to develop properly.
I will take the liberty of listing their objectives. They are as follows:
» “To provide policy guidance for the development and implementation of public policies, strategies and plans, and legal and institutional frameworks for the sustainable growth of aquaculture;
» To enhance the contribution of aquaculture to global food security, nutrition and poverty eradication, as well as to social welfare and economic development;
» Improve the socio-economic status of communities whose livelihoods depend on aquaculture through decent work and economic growth;
» Contribute to the achievement of sustainable use, responsible management, conservation and restoration of living aquatic resources, ecosystems and biodiversity, in accordance with the Code and other international instruments relevant to aquaculture, and to climate change mitigation.”
I repeat, its content is not something that we specialists were not aware of, or something that will change the course of the sector, but it is a clear guide for decision-makers, whether they are experienced or those who by chance find themselves in a position in the sector without any preparation, which happens in many cases more than we imagine.
These guidelines provide the recommendations that Member States should follow if they want to develop aquaculture properly in their countries. So, I can only congratulate Matthias Halwart and his team for being the unsung heroes of this story and for orchestrating one of the greatest achievements of aquaculture in the last decades… Bravo FAO
* Antonio Garza de Yta is COO of Blue Aqua International-Gulf, Vice President of the International Center for Strategic Studies in Aquaculture (CIDEEA), President of Aquaculture Without Frontiers (AwF), Past President of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS), Former Secretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Tam- aulipas, Mexico, and Creator of the Certification for Aquaculture Professionals (CAP) Program with Auburn University.
