By the end of 2006 more than 160 ongoing projects were receiving specialized technical inputs from the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department staff, including officers outposted at Regional (ROs) and Subregional offices (SROs). The projects covered policy, regulations, development, management and laws among other disciplines related to fisheries and aquaculture.
Composition of projects by financial modality:
Approximately 33% of the total projects were supported by the Government Cooperative Programme (GCP), 25% were emergencies mainly related to the tsunami disaster (extabudgetary funds), about 20% were supported by TCP (Regular Programme), 12% funded by UN system, 6% by Telefood, 3% by Unilateral Trust Funds, and 1% by others.Donors:
UK (through DFID) is the major donor with a programme of almost US$ 36 million for Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods mainly for Western Africa countries.Italy supported 8 projects (3 being emergencies/tsunami) for US$ 20 million. Japan13 projects with US 15.5 million. Norway 7 projects (4 of them on emergencies/tsunami) for about US$ 15 million. Spain 3 projects (2 for emergencies/tsunami) for more than US$ 10 million. Multidonors (projects financed by more than one donor) financed 7 projects for about US$ 16 million. Sweden 6 projects for US$ 4 million. Other donors as EC, Denmark, Germany, France, Republic of Korea, the Common Funds for Comodities and the UN system (UNDP, GEF, UNEP, etc) also provided important contributions. Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Namibia, and Mexico financed FI assistance for their own countries through Unilateral Trust Funds.
Relevant projects/programmes:
- The Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods. Aimed to assist small scale-fishermen of Western Africa Region.
- The Fishcode Umbrella Programme. Composed of projects components covering 12 topical areas and funded by multiple donors, dedicated to the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.
- The Cooperative programme financed by Japan: 13 projects assisting in Capacity building for an Ecosystem approach, Ecosystem-based management, management of tuna capacity of small islands developing states, Promotion of sustainable fisheries, CITES and commercially exploited species, Review of factors contributing to overexploitation and unsustainability, Promotion of sustainable fisheries, and some other relevant issues.
- The Cooperative Programme financed by Norway: Including a project for strengthening the knowledge base for implementing an ecosystem approach to marine fisheries in developing counties (mainly of Africa); the International Cooperation with the NANSEN Programme: Fisheries Management and Marine Environment and emergency projects (tsunami).
- Programme financed by Italy, Spain, EC and other Mediterranean countries for assessment and monitoring the fisheries resources and the ecosystem in the Mediterranean and other related issues which include various regional projects (AdriaMED, MedSudMed, COPEMED, EastMed, MedFSIS and support to the General Fihseries Commission for the Mediterranean/GFCM).
- Emergencies Programme in support to fishing communities affected by Tsunami. 34 projects implemented by the FAO Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation and technically backstopped by FI. The programme has been supported by Norway, USA, Belgium, Germany, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Laos, EC and various NGOs.
- GLOBEFISH: Integral part of the Fish INFOnetwork which performs a co-ordinating role in the Network activities. The core of GLOBEFISH is the GLOBEFISH Databank, it also produces a number of publications, including fish price reports, market studies and trade analysis. The programme is financed by FAO and GLOBEFISH Partners.
- Reduction of environmental impact from tropical shrimp trawling. Project with the participation and contributions of 13 countries and institutions around the world which receives the support of GEF/UNEP.