The goals of the expert consultation were to advise FAO on the development and implementation of a global record of fishing vessels and to respond to the request from FAO's Committee on Fisheries to further develop the concept as described in the feasibility study. A comprehensive global record, a potential additional tool to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, is envisioned as a global database gathering data from many sources in one location.--Publisher's description

An overview the ABNJ Seas Project - aimed at strengthening policy frameworks for sustainable fisheries and enhancing conservation - and a discussion of its implementation status, evaluation system and work plan for 2017.

This volume is a comprehensive, fully illustrated catalogue of the sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras of the Indian Ocean. It includes 10 orders, 23 families, 45 genera, and 78 species of cartilaginous fishes, providing accounts for all orders, families and genera, and all keys to taxa are fully illustrated.

" The motivation for DEEP SEA 2003, an international conference on the government and management of deep-sea fisheries, was a realization by a number of states, intergovernmental organizations, industry groups and civil society organizations that, as a result of technological development and market demand, deepwater fisheries are being exploited at increasingly unsustainable levels ...".

A workshop to analyse the challenges and propose ways forward for the implementation of the International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-sea Fisheries in the High Seas (adopted in 2008) (FAO Deep-sea Guidelines) was held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 10 to 12 May 2010. The meeting was attended by participants from a wide range of disciplines, experience and geographic areas. The report is divided in two parts. Part 1 provides the meeting summary and the main conclusions and recommendations with respect to general considerations, governance, support to developing countries, management issues, compliance and enforcement, vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) and review and implementation processes. Part 2 contains the background documents on: (i) issues with respect to fisheries management in areas where there are regional fisheries management organizations/arrangements (RFMO/As); (ii) VMEs in areas where there are RFMO/As; and (iii) both topics in areas where there are no RFMO/As. It was concluded that the current Workshop provided a good opportunity to establish an overall view of implementation and discuss challenges faced. However, given that many states and RFMO/As have only just begun to address many of the provisions in the FAO Deep-sea Guidelines and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolutions for the purpose of their implementation it was suggested that additional meetings to evaluate the challenges and potential solutions in the implementation should be planned for the future. Additional evaluations of the implementation of the FAO Guidelines could also encourage relevant parties and stakeholders to continue their efforts on implementation. Specific programmes of work and activities that will be needed to advance implementation of the FAO Deep-sea Guidelines were also developed.

This publication reports on the 8th session of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, which was held in Tirana, Albania in October 2005. Issues discussed include: fishery management proposals emanating from the work of sub-committees; research priorities and its workplan for 2006; measures for the protection of certain marine ecosystem including gear selectivity issues and stock assessment methodologies.

This yearly report includes all the decisions adopted by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) and reviews the programme of work and budget agreed for the next intersession.

Describes major shortcomings in the implementation of U.N. General Assembly resolutions designed to protect the deep-ocean from the destructive impact of fishing. This is the first comprehensive scientific review of the mgmt. of deep-sea fishing on the high seas globally, this report examines the data available from Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMOs), the bodies tasked with implementing the U.N. resolutions. It concludes that ¿RFMOs are failing to manage deep-sea bottom fisheries on the high seas sustainably with respect to target and by-catch species. For most fisheries there is little or no info. on the status of stocks and in many cases we do not even know what is being caught where." Illus. A print on demand report.

This publication presents the outcome of a meeting between the FAO/UNEP ABNJ Deep-seas and Biodiversity project and the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative. It focuses on the impacts of climatic changes on demersal fisheries, and the interactions of these fisheries with other species and vulnerable marine ecosystems. Regional fisheries management organizations rely on scientific information to develop advice to managers. In recent decades, climate change has been a focus largely as a unidirectional forcing over decadal timescales. However, changes can occur abruptly when critical thresholds are crossed. Moreover, distribution changes are expected as populations shift from existing to new areas. Hence, there is a need for new monitoring programmes to help scientists understand how these changes affect productivity and biodiversity. The principal cause of climate change is rising greenhouse gases and other compounds in the atmosphere that trap heat causing global warming, leading to deoxygenation and acidification in the oceans. Three-dimensional fully coupled earth system models are used to predict the extent of these changes in the deep oceans at 200–2500 m depth. Trends in changes are identified in many variables, including temperature, pH, oxygen and supply of particulate organic carbon (POC). Regional differences are identified, indicating the complexity of the predictions. The response of various fish and invertebrate species to these changes in the physical environment are analysed using hazard and suitability modelling. Predictions are made to changes in distributions of commercial species, though in practice the processes governing population abundance are poorly understood in the deep-sea environment, and predicted distributional changes are not always as expected and may be manifested as simple disappearance of species or ecosystems. The publication underscores the fact adaptive monitoring and management mechanisms must be in place to ensure that fisheries are sustainable and the environment remains healthy and productive. Suggestions are provided as to the actions necessary.