Guyana, Senegal and Tanzania star in FISH4ACP second virtual tour

15 April 2021, Rome - Over 250 people joined for the second installment of a series of exchanges on how the innovative FISH4ACP programme supports fisheries and aquaculture value chains in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific to become stronger and more sustainable.

The online event, held on 18 February 2021, explored how people in Guyana, Senegal and Tanzania manage to make a living from fishing and the challenges they face to improve their livelihoods while ensuring that no harm is done to the environment.

Leonard Mizzi

FISH4ACP’s “virtual tours” are online happenings about fisheries and aquaculture value chain development in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific with a focus on the twelve countries supported by this OACPS-led initiative.

It involves experts like Sharon Hutchison from the University of the West Indies, who explained how scores of interviews in Guyana have helped FISH4ACP to gain understanding of the Atlantic seabob shrimp sector, enabling it to prepare a plan for improving its economic, social and environmental performance.

The audience learned about the artisanal side of Guyana’s seabob sector in a series of engaging videos that also took participants on a journey looking for oysters in the Senegalese Saloum delta while navigating the waters of Lake Tanganyika in a quest to source a tiny silver fish known as “dagaa”.

Manuel Barange

Experts and local stakeholders engaged in a lively debate about the challenges and opportunities of the value chains in Guyana, Senegal and Tanzania, raising issues related to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development, food and nutrition security, decent livelihoods, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“FISH4ACP is an example of how team Europe wants to build back better after COVID-19,” said Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit – Rural Development, Food Security, Nutrition – Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development of the European Union that is funding FISH4ACP together with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). “Helping fisheries value chains recover from the corona pandemic is definitely part of that equation.”

“This way of sharing knowledge through storytelling and discussion is very powerful in showing that FISH4ACP is crucial to what FAO does,” said Manuel Barange, Director of FAO’s Fisheries Division, adding: “We need to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on supply and demand to be successful in restoring fisheries value chains.”

Data collection to better understand the value chains is ongoing not only in Guyana, but in all countries where FISH4ACP is working. By June this year, when the next virtual tour is scheduled to take place, a wealth of information will already be available to enable FISH4ACP to play its part in building back better value chains.

And the winner is: Jada Tullos Anderson

Jada Tullos Anderson

The first FISH4ACP virtual quiz was won by Jada Tullos Anderson, Director Fisheries and Aquaculture Finance at Ocean Outcomes. She is sharing her views on the project and on fisheries and aquaculture value chain development:

“FISH4ACP fills an important gap because of its ambition to integrate environmental, social and economic impact. This can reduce risks and ensure long-term success, something we've been working towards at Ocean Outcomes.

Climate change is adding to the complexity of fisheries and aquaculture value chain development. Accounting for ecosystem health and socio-economic needs will enable stakeholders to make adaptations to deal with the impact of climate change.

An exciting aspect of FISH4ACP is the potential to develop models that promote social and environmental outcomes. Investors are eager to support that.”