PREPARATIONS FOR THE REGIONAL CONSULTATIVE FORUM MEETING AND ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE THIRTIETH SESSION OF APFIC

80. The Executive Committee was advised on the preparations for the second APFIC Regional Consultative Forum Meeting (RCFM) and arrangements for the Thirtieth Session of the Commission in 2008 as outlined in document APFIC:ExCo/07/09. The working title of the RCF Meeting will be
"Adapting to emerging challenges _ promoting effective arrangements for managing fisheries and aquaculture in the Asian-Pacific Region" was endorsed by the Executive Committee.

81. The Government of Malaysia, which hosted the last RCFM and the Session described their experience in convening these two meetings. The two meetings/sessions were held back to back and the RCFM, which is the larger of the two meetings, will be around 120 participants (guests) and if many local officers are attending the total number of participants could be up to 200 participants in total. The Session has around 25 participants and follows on directly from the RCFM.

82. The Executive Committee developed and endorsed the major topics to be discussed at the RCFM as well as the meeting agenda of the three-day RCF Meeting which appears as Appendix E.

83. The Executive Committee suggested the thematic areas for APFIC to work on in the biennium 2008/2009 themes as:

1. Practical implementation of the Ecosystem management approach to fisheries
2. Improving resilience and reducing vulnerability of livelihoods in small-scale fisheries.

84. There were a number of potential emerging issues mentioned by the Executive Committee. A full list of the suggestions is given in Appendix F.

85. The Executive Committee suggested that the outcome of the APFIC regional workshops that would be presented at the RCFM would be presented by the member countries hosting the workshops (e.g. Thailand and Viet Nam for the coming RCFM). It was further suggested that a representative country from each sub-region of APFIC made a presentation instead of including all countries. Additional country information could be provided in the form of posters.

86. The Executive Committee discussed the options for the location of the RCFM and the two options suggested were Manado and Yogjakarta. The tentative dates for the RCFM and the APFIC Session were set to take place late August or early September 2008. These will be confirmed by the hosting country and APFIC Secretariat.

87. The Executive Committee considered the arrangements of the Thirtieth Session of APFIC as proposed by the Secretariat and endorsed the tentative schedule of the Session (Appendix G). The session will be back-to-back with the RCFM at the same venue in end of August or early September 2008.