FISH4ACP aims to tackle some of the key challenges to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. These include low economic performance, limited market access and poor social and environmental sustainability.

The programme is focused onenhancing the productivity and competitiveness of fisheries and aquaculture value chains, while ensuring that economic improvements go hand in hand with environmental sustainability and social inclusiveness.

During its first phase FISH4ACP will conduct detailed assessments of the twelve value chains involved in the programme and develop plans for their improvement. The rest of the programme, from years 2-5, will be dedicated to implementing these plans.

The programme focuses on:

• helping actors understand and improve their value chains
• opening up new markets for small and medium enterprises and improving the business and regulatory environment
• improving working conditions along the value chain
• making value chains more environmentally sustainable
• helping businesses access additional sources of finance and investment.

Fisheries and aquaculture are growing in most of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. However, growth has been slow and the benefits do not always reach the communities that rely on them for their livelihoods and food security. In addition, poor fisheries and aquaculture practices can put stress on the environments in which they operate.

In that context, fisheries and aquaculture ministers of African, Caribbean and Pacific states see an urgent need to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of fish value chains, while ensuring long-term sustainability and social inclusiveness.

FISH4ACP covers twelve value chains in twelve African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

The twelve value chains involved in FISH4ACP were selected through a call for proposals issued by the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) in April 2019. Of the 70+ proposals received, 24 were shortlisted based on a thorough and rigorous assessment by FAO in coordination with the OACPS and the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development of the European Commission (DG DEVCO). These proposals were assessed through a series of four regional workshops (one in the Pacific, one in the Caribbean, and two in Africa for Anglophone and Francophone countries). A set of selection criteria were used to gauge the economic, social and environmental feasibility and potential for impact. From these assessments, the final twelve value chains were selected.

At this stage, the FISH4ACP project has a budget to cover twelve value chains.

At this stage, the FISH4ACP project has a budget to cover 12 value chains and the coverage of additional value chains would require additional funding.  Other value chains can benefit from knowledge exchange between Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries, which is an objective of FISH4ACP. Knowledge sharing activities will be organised during the course of the project to ensure that the benefits reach beyond the twelve value chains involved.   

All results of the project will be made available on the FISH4ACP website and promoted via a newsletter, social media and email communication. FISH4ACP also aims to host public online events to update participants on its achievements. A great deal of attention will be devoted to sharing the knowledge in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries by taking part in sub-regional and international events. The FISH4ACP team is happy to respond to any queries related to value chain improvement processes in fisheries and aquaculture and will be happy to take part in value chain capacity building activities to the extent possible.