A new e-learning course introducing a new project that will help assess, monitor and manage coastal fisheries has been launched by the GEF-funded Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI), as part of its knowledge management portfolioaimed at developing more integrated approaches to coastal fisheries management.

The three-module online course on the Fisheries Performance Assessment Toolkit (FPAT) offers an introduction on how the toolkit will be developed and tested, and its significance in the management of coastal fisheries that are data limited or lacking robust technical knowledge. It will also allow stakeholders to factor in both environmental and socio-economic aspects of a fishery, an often-overlooked approach in coastal fisheries governance.

On the launch of the e-course, Nicolás Gutiérrez, Fishery Resources Officer at FAO, said: "With the Fisheries Performance Assessment Toolkit we are developing and piloting a cost-effective yet rigorous assessment that allows fishery stakeholders to understand what ecological, social and economic aspects of their fisheries are not performing as well as they should".

The CFI provides hands-on support to coastal fisheries in six countries across three geographies: Indonesia, Latin America (Ecuador and Peru) and West Africa (Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal).

In many countries, data and technical understanding on coastal fisheries are often lacking and therefore become bottlenecks in the proper and sustainable management of coastal fisheries.

The information and knowledge generated from the FPAT will provide fisheries managers with enough evidence to take corrective measures and to test out management interventions to make their coastal fisheries more sustainable for food, nutrition and livelihoods in coastal communities.

Both the e-learning course and the FPAT are being developed by FAO as part of a wider package of knowledge products on issues such as mangrove restoration, fisheries governance, gender-sensitive value chains and private-sector engagement under the CFI's Global Partnership project.

"By pulling together best practices from all those experiences, the initiative aims to develop more holistic processes and integrated approaches to coastal fisheries management. By sharing this technical knowledge with the CFI countries and later beyond, we hope many other countries can use the knowledge generated to ensure our coastal fisheries are performing as best as possible for people and planet", said Fatou Sock, Interim Coordinator for the CFI West Africa and Global Partnerships Projects at FAO.

The e-learning course serves as starter phase ahead of data collection workshops, the first of which will be held in Peru and Ecuador in Spring 2020.

The CFI is a 5-year program bringing together UN agencies FAO, UNEP, UNDP, the Global Environment Fund (GEF) as the main donor, Conservation International, the World Bank and WWF to sustainably manage coastal fisheries.

E-learning course link