The Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) is committed to acting as a regional consultative forum, providing its member countries, regional organizations and fisheries professionals in the region with the opportunity to review, discuss and decide on actions and challenges facing the region's fisheries sector. As part of this function, APFIC has prepared the Status and potential of fisheries and aquaculture in Asia and the Pacific 2008. This is the latest in a series of biennial reviews provided for the deliberations of the biennial APFIC regional consultative forum meeting and the regular sessions of the commission.
The current volume provides short reviews of some current issues facing fisheries and aquaculture in the region that are likely to challenge the sector as it adapts to the continuously changing production and market environments.
Two key areas have also been identified by the commission for its biennial work programme, namely livelihoods in fisheries and the ecosystem approach to fisheries, and they are reviewed here to help members prepare for the commission's programme of regional consultative workshops to be convened during the coming biennium.
This document also contains a regional review of the FAO statistics supported with other information from regional partner organizations of the commission as well as trade, environmental and other arrangements. This information is organized around key resources and attempts to show the trends in the production of these resources. Future volumes will aim to provide more information regarding the management status of these stocks and species groupings.
He Changchui
Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
