Background

Since the late 1970s, the FISH INFOnetwork has been supplying timely, accurate and unbiased information on international fish markets and fish trade to FAO member countries, governmental agencies, universities, research institutions and private industry.

Information is aimed primarily at trade analysts who must assess and prepare fish trade policies – it is also used by regional and national fish trade promotion services.

FAO staff advise industry and governments on all issues of international of fish trade.

Coordination with FISH INFOnetwork

Regional services 

The FISHINFOnetwork is coordinated by GLOBEFISH at FAO headquarters in Rome and includes 7 regional independent intergovernmental and governmental organizations covering specific geographic areas: INFOPESCA in Latin America and the Caribbean, INFOFISH in Asia and the Pacific Region, INFOPECHE in Africa, INFOSAMAK in the Arab Region, EASTFISH/EUROFISH in East and Central Europe and INFOYU in China.

INFOnetwork promotes trade in fish products by providing following regional services:

• providing up-to-date information through publications on markets, prices and industry developments;
• undertaking studies on behalf of member governments and for the fishery industry;
• bringing buyers and sellers together in international conferences;
• training industry and government on quality requirements of the main markets;
• organizing international conferences on commodities such as shrimp, tuna, salmon, tilapia and small pelagics.

Recent developments

In line with developments in international fish trade, the FISH INFOnetwork responds by adapting to the needs of its client base among members and industry. In 2002, a new INFOPECHE sub-office was set up in Namibia to better service the SADC region. Likewise in 2002, EUROFISH, the new Intergovernmental organisation took over the functions of EASTFISH in June 2003, was established in Copenhagen and INFOSAMAK completed its first anniversary as fully operational after its relocation to Casablanca. INFOYU has also seen an increase in its functions and now assists as a secretariat for China's WTO Expert Committee on Fisheries. INFOPESCA, Infosamak and INFOFISH organised major conferences in 2002 in their regions and continued their important project work on value added fishery products.

GLOBEFISH

GLOBEFISH is an integral part of FISH INFOnetwork and contains the GLOBEFISH Databank at its core. Besides performing a co-ordinating role in the FISH INFOnetwork activities, GLOBEFISH is the FAO unit responsible for analysis and information on international fish trade. GLOBEFISH produces a number of publications including fish price reports (European Fish Price Report), market studies (GLOBEFISH Research Programme) and trend analyses (GLOBEFISH Highlights and Commodity updates). The GLOBEFISH Web site, maintained by FAO, contains all relevant material.

GLOBEFISH is jointly financed by FAO and GLOBEFISH Partners.

Publications

GLOBEFISH regularly produces a number of regular publications, magazines and single volumes:

• Research programme: a wide-ranging series of studies on topics of current importance to the fishery industry
• Commodity updates: global information on prices, production, processing, consumption, imports and exports per commodity
• GLOBEFISH directory of fish importers, exporters and producers: covers 1468 companies in 36 European countries
• GLOBEFISH seafood highlights: a detailed update on market trends for a variety of major commodities
• Fish price reports (European Fish Price Report)
• Market studies
• Trend analyses (GLOBEFISH Highlights)