| Capacity-building | - FEG members participated also in the CBD-FAO-FEG Sustainable Ocean Initiative OECM Capacity-building Workshop for the Wider Caribbean and Central America (online 20-21 April and 27-28 April 2022) OECMs, in Jamaica, FEG made a series of presentations on (1) a global overview on the developments of OECMs; (2) Types of ABFMs and potential benefits; (3) examples of Caribbean Area-Based Fisheries Management Measures (in collaboration with CRFM); (4) OECM criteria; and (5) capacity-building for OECMs.
- FEG members participated actively to the CBD-FAO SOI National Workshop for Jamaica OECMs in the marine fishery sector (17-19 may 2023). Organized at the request of the Jamaican Government. The meeting was very successful and agreed to a common way forward by the fisheries and environmental authorities to rapidly identify fishery-OECMs in Jamaica.
| Completed |
| Education/Communication/Raising awareness | At the Fifteenth round of informal consultations of States Parties (ICSP 15) on the United Nations Fish Stock Agreement (UNFSA), the FEG Chair was invited by the Global Marine Program of IUCN to give a presentation on behalf of IUCN, in a Session on ”Understanding the ecosystems approach to fisheries management in the context of the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement”. The Chair made a presentation on “Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) and the UNFSA relating OECMs to the ecosystem approach already adopted in the UFSA, suggesting it was time for the UNFSA Parties to promote the use of OECMs in RFMOs | Completed |
| Education/Communication/Raising awareness | At the IMPAC 5 meeting (February 2023) FEG organized a symposium on Area-Based management in collaboration with FAO and ICES on the state of OECMs in fisheries. The meeting was chaired by the FEG Vice Chair and the meeting involved panellists from FAO, ICES and FEG. One FEG member made a presentation on FEG activities on OECMs. An ICES Expert presented the results of the 2022 ICES-FEG Workshop on OECMs in the North Atlantic. FAO staff reported on FAO’s efforts in OECMs in capture fisheries. The discussions were very rich and active. | Completed |
| Scientific/technical activities | FEG collaborated also directly with the Secretariats of RFMOs like NEAFC and GFCM as well as OSPAR to promote a better understanding of these institutions of the duties and responsibilities this might entail for them. FAO and the CBD were very closely associated to these efforts. | On-going |
| Scientific/technical activities | FEG members led or co-authored, in collaboration with experts from FAO, the CBD, and other institutions, three scientific papers published the following papers:
- Garcia, S.M.; Rice, J.; Himes-Cornell, A.; Friedman, K.J.; Charles, A.; Diz, D.; Appiott, J. & Kaiser, M.J. 2022. OECMs in marine capture fisheries: Key implementation issues of governance, management, and biodiversity. Front. Mar. Sci. 9:920051. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.920051
- Himes-Cornell A, Lechuga Sanchez JF, Potter C, McKean C, Rice J, Friedman KJ, Garcia SM and Fluharty DL (2022) Reaching Global Marine Biodiversity Conservation Goals With Area-Based Fisheries Management: A Typology- Based Evaluation. Front. Mar. Sci. 9:932283. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.932283
- Rice, J.; Friedman, K.; Garcia, S.M.; Govan, H.; & Himes-Cornell, A. 2022. A Contrast of Criteria for Special Places Important for Biodiversity Outcomes. Frontiers in Marine Science: 9: 91203: 13 p. Doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.912031
- Petza, D., Anastopoulos A., Kalogirou, S., Coll, M., Garcia, S. M., Kaiser, M., Koukourouvli, N., Lourdi, I., Rice, J., Sciberras, M., & Katsanevakis, S. 2023 (submitted). Contribution of Area-Based Fisheries Management Measures to Fisheries Sustainability and Marine Conservation: a global scoping review. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.
In addition, FEG members were also called to review and comment on the draft FAO Handbook on OECMs for fisheries in early 2023. Together, these papers represent a substantial contribution to the understanding of OECMs in fisheries and FAO is not working on the development of guidelines.
| Completed |
| Scientific/technical activities | FEG was granted financial support from NCM to prepare a comprehensive review of Area-Based management Tools of relevance to fisheries. This comprehensive paper, prepared by FEG experts and external collaborators is over 300 pages and was published in March 2023. The reference is: Garcia, S.M.; Rice, J.; Link, J.; Sowman, M.; Charles, A.; Augustyn, C.J.; Penas Lado, E.; Morishita, J.; Campbell, D.; Kirkegaard, E.; Govan, H. 2023. Area-based management tools and fisheries: History, definitions, roles, typologies, tensions, synergies, trade-offs, and effectiveness. Brussels, EBCD. Gland, IUCN-CEM-FEG: 316 p. Available at https://ebcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2023-04-08-FEG-ABMT-Master-15-1.pdf | Completed |
