©FAO/Luigi Spaventa - Fish market in Cairo.

Alexandria, Egypt - 12 April 2017 -- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), organized the “National Stakeholder’s Workshop on Fish Loss and Waste in Egypt” in Alexandria with the purpose of understanding the loss and waste current situation in the country and the challenges and opportunities of the Fish Loss and Waste reduction in Egypt so as to agree on the national priorities and develop a clear National Acton Plan in this regard.

Representatives from all relevant stakeholders linked to the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Egypt participated in the workshop, including the national authorities, fisheries and aquaculture associations, training institutions and research centres, fisher folks and aqua-culturists, market, private sector, NGOs and consumers. The participants were gathered under the Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, through the FAO’s multi-Partner Programme Support Mechanism.

The main objective of this project is to reduce pre and post-harvest losses and waste in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Egypt through a series of activities that started with this inclusive National Stakeholder’s Workshop. The workshop  will be followed by development of the strategy and regulatory framework; then will undertake an analysis of the Fish Loss and Waste situation through field studies in the priority areas chosen during the workshop; and will end by training of the relevant stakeholders and organizing a national awareness campaign on loss and waste.

Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt while opening the workshop said: "It is worth noting that Egypt is producing nowadays approximately 1.5 million tonnes of fish and fishery products from aquaculture only. However, large amounts are lost in handling, preservation, processing, storage and distribution. Poor technical capacity in fish hygiene, environment situation, and basic fish technology worsen the situation. Fish loss and waste is hence a very important issue in the Egyptian fisheries and aquaculture sector".

"However, there has been some global and regional initiatives addressing the problem. For example a regional conference in Nouakchott in December 2013 resulted in a Declaration which includes a call to implement policies and legislative frameworks. This is why FAO Egypt started a national Fish Loss and Waste activity with the aim to promote reducing pre- and post-harvest losses and waste in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Egypt,” added Dr Gadain..

Ahmed SaneyEldin Sadek, Director General, General Directorate of Fish Farms Department in the General Authority for Fish Resources Development (GAFRD), stated that "Fish production in our country has been growing a lot during this last twenty years, with Egypt being one of the leaders in aquaculture production in the world, but the gap between the quantity produced and the quantity consumed it is too big. It is time to put all our efforts to enhance food security and income generation through the reduction of fish loss and waste in the Egyptian fisheries and aquaculture sector.” 

“The Stakeholders’ workshop has been a great idea, fishermen are very often forgotten in the decision making processes and this workshop has permitted us to share our views and opinions with the rest of actors involved in the sector. We had the chance to participate in the discussions and decide the National Priorities and we will leave the workshop knowing that, the first stage of the value chain, fisher folks and farmers, have been heard and will be part of the national efforts on reduction of fish loss and waste”, said Mr Atif Shawky, Chairman of Fisheries Union.

According to the State of Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016 (SOFIA), a flagship publication of FAO, 35% of the fish production is lost or wasted along the whole value chain, from the production to the consumption stage. Important international fisheries instruments, among them the “Code of Conduct of Responsible Fisheries” or the “Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication” recall the countries that measures to minimize the fish loss and waste have to be implemented all along the value chain.

The project will analyse the fish loss and waste situation in the country, strengthening the strategic, policy and regulatory framework and reinforcing the local capacity of the various actors of the value chain.