1. Within the preparatory phase of the project four regional workshops were conducted:
I. Africa: Lagos, Nigeria; 15-17 December 1999
II. Caribbean and Latin America: Puntareņas, Costa Rica; 15-17 January 2000
III. Persian Gulf: Teheran, Iran; 28 February-1 March 2000
IV. Asia: Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia; 6-8 March 2000
2. All workshops had similar objectives:
- discuss and review the available information concerning the impacts of shrimp trawling at the national level;
- to assess the impacts of the trawl fishery from a regional perspective and determine regional priorities for action in the main-phase project; and,
- prepare an outline of elements to be included in the main-phase project, including development priorities and activities; strategy for participating institutions and industry, and networking requirements during the project.
3. The workshops were attended by the National Coordinators and in most cases also by representatives from fisheries administrations and the shrimp fishing industry (skippers, managers or technicians of shrimp fishing company, representatives from fishermen’s organizations) from each of the thirteen countries which were officially participating in the project. In addition individuals from neighbouring countries involved in shrimp fishing, were invited to attend the workshops. Altogether 22 countries from the four regions were represented in the four workshops.
4. In addition to resource persons from FAO (from Headquarters and the Regional Offices), experts in bycatch reduction technlology (Matt Broadhurst), shrimp fishery modeling (Juan C. Seijo), and financing (Messrs Jumbeli and Sing) participated in the meeting in Nigeria, Costa Rica and Indonesia, respectively. Representatives from UNEP participated in the workshops in Nigeria and Costa Rica.
5. The agenda of the four workshops was similar (Appendix 1) with slight adjustments to include specific aspects of the local situations and, to a certain extent, so that the regional consultations would complement each other. The workshops were chaired by someone from the region, usually the National Coordinator of one of the participating country in the concerned region..
6. A major session of each of the workshops was dedicated to a presentation of the shrimp fisheries situation in the participating countries. The National Coordinators of the countries officially participating in the Project Development and Preparation Phase provided summaries of their National Report on Shrimp Fisheries prepared according to a format agreed at the Coordination Workshop in March 1999. Participants from other countries of the regions were invited to briefly describe the situation with regard to shrimp fisheries and any envionmental problems encountered in these fisheries.
7. As an introduction to discussions about technical possibilites and regional priorities, three general documents were prepared and presented by FAO staff:
i. Bycatch reduction technologies for shrimp trawl fisheries (John Valdemarsen, Fishing Technology Service, FIIT).
ii. Alternative to trawl shrimp fishing methods (Joël Prado, Fishing Technology Service, FIIT).
iii. Important elements concerning communication (Michelle Owens and Lydda Gaviria, Extension, Education and Communication Service, SDRE, ).
8. In addition, there were at each of the workshops a brief presentation concerning "various vessel deck arrangements developed in Australia to separate shrimp and bycatch in the water tank and to accelerate the discarding of unwanted bycatch in the optimal conditions increasing the chance of survival to the discarded fish: "one of the options to reduce mid-term impact on living resources" (Matt Broadhurst (invited expert)).
9. As mentioned above, in order to extend the discussion to some other important aspects, two additional topics were added to the standard Agenda of two of the meetings: - "the factors affecting the strategy of fishing fleets, in general, those involved in shrimp fisheries, in particular, and proper management taking into account uncertainties and "externalities" (introduced and discussed at the regional workshop for the Caribbean and Latin America) and - "How to meet the costs related to the introduction of environmentally friendly techniques and practices toward responsible shrimp fisheries - the role of financial institutions, government and fishing industry" (a panel discussion during the regional workshop for Asia).
10. In the introduction of the agenda item dealing with possible elements of the main phase project, it was clearly stated by the organizers, FAO, that a commitment both financially and in policy from the participating countries is a requirement to be considered for participation in follow-up activities. It was also advised that GEF funding is restricted to so-called "incremental costs" meaning the cost of an activity beyond the national ones initiated to achieve an environmental objective.
