Background
The road to the high-level meeting
The High-level conference on sustainable small-scale fisheries consolidates efforts made in recent years to draw attention to and address the needs and challenges facing the small-scale fishing sector. These prior efforts include, among others:
- First Regional Symposium on Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea (27-30 November 2013, Saint Julian’s, Malta)
- Regional Conference on “Building a future for sustainable small-scale fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea” (7-9 March 2016, Algiers, Algeria)
- Mid-term strategy (2017-2020) towards the sustainability of Mediterranean and Black Sea fisheries
- First meeting of the Working Group on Small-Scale and Recreational Fisheries (WGSSF) (12-13 September 2017, FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy)
Legal framework
The High-level conference on sustainable small-scale fisheries endeavoured to take resolute, calculated and coordinated political action in support of small-scale fisheries, building on the momentum already generated through past successes, namely:
- Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (Endorsed by the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in June 2014)
- Resolution GFCM/40/2016/3 on sustainable small-scale fisheries in the GFCM area of application (Fortieth session of the Commission, 30 May – 3 June 2016, St. Julian’s, Malta)
- Declaration of the high-level conference towards enhanced cooperation on Black Sea fisheries and aquaculture (“Bucharest Declaration”, 25 October 2016, Bucharest, Romania)
- Malta “MedFish4Ever” Ministerial Declaration (30 March 2017, Malta)
- Sofia Ministerial Declaration (7 June 2018, Sofia)