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News
Antonio Garza de Yta
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COFI emphasizes the importance of aquaculture globally … but still comes up short
he Committee of Fisheries (COFI) is a global event organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) annually at its Rome headquarters, at which all the member countries that belong to this organisation (197) discuss trends, needs and international policies about Fisheries and Aquaculture. This year´s event was conducted between July 11-15 with the participation of 108 delegates of member countries, one associate member, 13 observers from member countries and 69 observers of intergovernmental and non-governmental associations, in which the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) is part. In colloquial terms, it is the ‘Babel of the Fisheries and Aquaculture world’ and an extremely interesting experience for all participants. Today I will try to summarise the most important topics that were discussed and I will share some of my observations. Aquaculture and food security During the meeting several countries manifested their consternation about the alarming situation that the fisheries sector is experiencing as the proportion of species that are being overexploited worldwide continues to increase. The importance of combating illegal fisheries was highlighted. Several countries expressed the need of increasing the technical abilities of FAO and other institutions’ personnel regarding fisheries and aquaculture topics. A special remark was made about aquaculture surpassing fisheries for the first time in providing seafood for human consumption globally and the increasing importance of the activity regarding food security worldwide. The importance of the nutritional value of seafood products and its continuous promotion was mentioned. A call was made to all nations to keep working on the reduction of post-harvest wastes, which account to 30 percent of the total production and the elaboration of guidelines to avoid it. One of the most important topics was the report of the Aquaculture Subcommittee that took place last year in Brasilia, in which the good work of the Advisor Committee for Conservation of Aquatic Genetic Resources was recognised.
The need of making aquaculture production units more efficient, improve capacity building programs and generate well paid jobs in the sector that include women and young people was identified. The relevance of continuing with the development and implementation of guidelines for aquaculture certification was also mentioned. We listen but do not learn Here is where I will stop my report. Why? Because for someone that listens to this for the first time the Brasilia outcome could seem interesting, for someone that has been in the aquaculture sector for many years its perturbing that we have not advanced much in recent years. Asia is still contributing with the largest percentage of aquaculture production worldwide, and with the exception of Norway, Chile and Egypt, we are all just staring. Yes, we talk constantly about aquaculture, but we never include it in our budgets. This is a problem not only of Mexico, my country, but of many others as well. It is incredible that in the four days of discussion, only around 20 percent of the time was dedicated to the activity that contributes the majority of the seafood that is consumed worldwide and that when aquatic plants are included, it surpasses total fisheries production. On top of that aquaculture is the future, as it is the animal protein production activity with the smallest environmental footprint. If we analyse the budget that the Latin American countries dedicate to fisheries and the one they spend in aquaculture we can easily see why aquaculture does not grow as it should in this area of world. Aquaculture is in every speech possible, but it is never in the mind of the people that plan the budgets. Not investing in aquaculture is the equivalent to not investing in our childrens' education; it is not thinking of our future. It just shows a very short and narrow perspective of the future, with no goals or plan. It is time that we put our budget where we put our mouths.
Dr Antonio Garza de Yta, International Editor at International Aquafeed magazine and Director at the World Aquaculture Society (WAS)
4 | September | October 2016 - International Aquafeed