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Adequate infrastructure is essential for sustainable fisheries development. Infrastructure is one of the major targets for international investment in the form of standalone projects or as a component of large integrated fishing industry development programmes. Fisheries infrastructure includes fishing ports, breakwaters, landing sites, quays, jetties, slipways, shipyards, fish buying stations, fish markets, fish storage, fish processing plants and ice plants. In addition, with the increase in fish-farming or aquaculture, related infrastructure developments are also increasing. The total annual investment from both public and private sources in fisheries and related infrastructure is estimated to be between USD 500 million and USD 1 billion per year.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supports the World Bank with technical assistance for rural infrastructure projects. FAO is primarily tasked with assessing infrastructure proposals, tender documents, technical reports, and training of infrastructure site managers. This work takes place world-wide, with an emphasis on Africa and Asia. As our work in this area is expanding, FAO is actively seeking more engineers with experience in the development and evaluation of maritime, port, and fisheries infrastructure.

Key responsibilities

The work of our infrastructure engineers is diverse and includes the following tasks:

• Drafting Terms of Reference (TORs) and contributing to feasibility studies, plans, and designs for infrastructure.
• Reviewing concept notes, plans, designs, TORs, work plans, completion reports, follow-up proposals, and planned activities related to infrastructure projects, along with their corresponding budgets.
• Assessing the technical and financial feasibility of infrastructure plans, proposing improvements, and supporting the revision of work plans, activities, and budgets.
• Providing written contributions to various reporting documents, including drafting tender documents.
• Conducting technical evaluations of designs and background studies, such as hydrodynamic studies, geotechnical and sediment analyses, and studies on coastal currents, waves, tides, coastal erosion, and morphology.

Work modality

In most cases, technical assistance can be provided remotely, meaning travel to project sites is often not required. However, when on-site visits are necessary, FAO and the World Bank will ensure safe arrangements and cover travel and accommodation expenses. The majority of our joint infrastructure projects require fluent English language skills (writing and speaking), but for projects in Africa and Latin America sometimes French and Spanish language skills are needed. The nature of this work typically requires only a few workweeks to several months per year per project. FAO generally concludes annual contracts of 50 to 100 working days with port/maritime infrastructure design and management engineers.

Current and upcoming projects

FAO and the World Bank are currently seeking engineers for fisheries infrastructure projects in various countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Near East.

Interested?

If you are interested to assist us with fisheries infrastructure development or would like more details about our work on fisheries infrastructure, please contact:

Raymon van Anrooy, Senior Fishery Officer.

E-mail: [email protected]

Telephone: +39 0657050155