FAO Members have given FAO a specific mandate to promote social sustainability in the fisheries and aquaculture value chains, including recognising and protecting human and labour rights. In order to fulfil this commitment, the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division is developing a guidance to facilitate social responsibility compliance by business actors along the fisheries and aquaculture value chains.

The FAO Guidance will cover the entire fish value chain, and it will be divided into six sections: (1) Industrial Fishing, (2) Small-Scale Fishing, (3) Aquaculture Production, (4) Processing, (5) Distribution, and (6) Retailing.

Therefore, FAO will organise the 1st Virtual Consultation on Social Responsibility, where its fundamental objective is to collect ideas and recommendations on how to develop the first section of the FAO Guidance titled “Industrial Fishing”.   During the consultation, a group of experts called the Technical Working Group (TWG) and International Organisations will participate in order to enable an open and constructive debate. In this regard, this 1st Virtual Consultation marks the beginning of the development of the FAO Guidance.  

In the last Session of the FAO Sub-Committee on Fish Trade (COFI:FT), FAO submitted a document with more relevant information about this topic and proposed a roadmap for the development of the FAO Guidance. As a result, FAO Members supported the continuation of the work based on the proposed road map. In addition, it was reiterated that the FAO Guidance should be voluntary, non-binding, practical, complementary, written in simple language, supportive, and based on the wide range of existing international conventions, agreements, and standards. The Sub-Committee confirmed that the industry should be the target audience for the FAO Guidance. It was observed, however, that the FAO Guidance might also serve as a helpful reference tool for policymakers, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), and civil society in promoting human rights and decent working conditions in fisheries and aquaculture value chains.

For more information, please contact Mariana Toussaint ([email protected])