Training participants

Alexandria, Egypt, 7 August 2017- Although Egypt produces approximately 1.5 million tonnes of fish and fishery products from aquaculture, it losses a portion of its production due to the inefficient handling, processing, preservation, storage, and distribution chain. In addition, poor technical capacities in fish hygiene, environment control, and basic fish technology worsen the situation.

In light of this, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a training on Exploratory Fish Loss Assessment Methodology (EFLAM). This comes as the first stage of a field analysis within the National Action Plan on fish loss and waste in Egypt, in order to put in place a trained field team on EFLAM ready to start the work in the field.

The training was held at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, in Alexandria, Egypt, from 7-11 August 2017.

The Fish Loss and Waste Project aims at reducing pre- and post-harvest losses and waste in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Egypt through a series of activities, starting with an inclusive National Stakeholder’s Workshop. This is followed by an analysis of the fish loss and waste situation through field studies in the priority areas chosen during the workshop. Next steps include the development of strategic and policy-level interventions, ending with the training of relevant stakeholders and the organization of a national awareness campaign on fish loss and waste.

“FAO Egypt is working on a Fish Loss and Waste Reduction Project under the Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction by implementing field analysis, strengthening the strategic, policy, and regulatory framework, and reinforcing the local capacity of the various actors of the value chain,” said Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt.

“Stakeholders from all over the fish value chain urgently need to know what they can do to reduce fish loss and waste in their daily activities. This study will enable us to provide them with the required support,” stated Nadia Ahmed, Professor in the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), whom participated in the training and will support the field team technically.

Mahmoud Saber, member of the project field team and researcher in NIOF, added, “Important losses occur during the fisheries and aquaculture activities; therefore, this training has been really beneficial in enabling us to identify and study all the losses in the field.” 

The Nouakchott Declaration, drafted and adopted by the Middle East and North African countries in 2013, highlighted, among other things, that fisheries and aquaculture resources can and should generate much more wealth and health without increasing the fishing pressure on stocks by making optimal use of what is currently discarded, lost, and wasted. The Declaration called on countries to build the capacities of resource users, managers, post-harvest stakeholders, and service providers with a view to reducing losses and waste in the fish value chain.

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.