4. The Session was opened by Mr Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General, FAO Fisheries Department. In opening the Session, Mr Nomura stressed the important role the Committee had played and was expected to continue to play in providing FAO with guidance and advice on the general work programme of the Department and on issues related to fisheries and aquaculture research. He informed the Committee that its achievements were recognized by the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) when, at its Twenty-fifth Session, COFI adopted the FAO Strategy for Improving Information on Status and Trends of Capture Fisheries that the Committee so actively crafted and promoted over the years. He stated that the emphasis which ACFR had placed on the issue of small-scale fisheries resulted in the inclusion of this subject as a stand alone item on the agenda of the Twenty-fifth Session of COFI.
5. Mr Nomura noted with pleasure the active participation of members of ACFR in intersessional technical meetings organized by the Secretariat on behalf of the Committee. He invited the Committee to review the outcomes of these meetings, and to continue its thorough review of the work of the Fisheries Department addressing not only research but also policy matters for small-scale fisheries and the strategy on human capacity development. Such review would help to ensure that critical gaps and emerging issues of the fisheries sector were appropriately addressed. Mr Nomura, in addition, requested the Committee to give special attention to the elaboration of a future work programme, the implementation of which would contribute in promoting sustainable fisheries. The full text of the opening statement is attached in appendix D.
