Rome, Italy – The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia and the FAO signed today a letter of agreement to help boost responsible fisheries and sustainable aquaculture in the Black Sea riparian country.

The agreement calls for the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) to provide Georgia with technical assistance to improve data collection, develop sustainable marine aquaculture, build capacity among experts, and adequately implement control and monitoring systems. The agreement was signed in the context of the GFCM mid-term strategy (2017-2020) for sustainable fisheries in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, which looks to adapt the global targets foreseen in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, “Life below Water”, to regional priorities and needs.

“This letter of agreement not only reaffirms FAO’s commitment to Georgia, but it also contributes to achieving the global targets set out in SDG 14, where FAO is directly assisting countries in the fight to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing,” said Ms Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General for Climate and Natural Resources.

Georgia has been a FAO member since 1995 and a cooperating non-contracting party to the GFCM since 2015. However, it is not yet party to the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), which is the first international treaty designed to end IUU fishing worldwide.

In this context, FAO hopes that the agreement can help advance Georgia’s participation towards the PSMA, which to date has been ratified by 51 countries and the EU, and that it will enable the country to become a contracting party to the GFCM.

Mr Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia, referred to the ambitious national programme on fisheries and aquaculture that Georgia is currently developing.

“As such, we greatly value our cooperation with FAO and the GFCM,” Mr Davitashvili said. “The Black Sea has enormous potential when it comes to fisheries and aquaculture and we need to tap into it. We stand ready to welcome the GFCM in Georgia in the near future to work together on challenges of common interest,” he added.

Also present at the ceremony was GFCM Executive Secretary, Mr Abdellah Srour, who expressed confidence that this unprecedented momentum would further contribute to achieving sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in Georgia and the Black Sea.

“The areas of cooperation under this letter of agreement include all pillars of sustainability. This is a practical and yet fully-encompassing approach to overcome the root causes to the overexploitation of fisheries at national and regional levels,” Mr Srour said.

http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/goals/goal-14/en/