2015 External meetings

This page contains the external meetings attended by SPRFMO staff and officials on behalf of the organisation in 2015.

19-30 October 2015, Hobart, Australia: Thirty-four Meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. The Executive Secretary attended from 26-29 October as an observer. During these days some representatives of the VMS-WG met with CCAMLR staff members to discuss the CCAMLR VMS setup, costs and possible opportunity of sharing with SPRMO.
5-6 October 2015, Viña del Mar, Chile: Our Ocean 2015 Conference: The Executive Secretary attended and participated in the Panel on IUU Fishing on the High Seas, a side event of the conference at the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa Mar a in Valparaíso (slides of her presentation and video recording of the IUU Panel).
24-28 May 2015, Suva, Fiji: Pacific Ocean Alliance Meeting: The Executive Secretary was invited and attended this inaugural meeting discussing the Pacific Islands region s ocean priorities and interests as they relate to areas beyond national jurisdiction.

2-5 March 2015, Swakopmund, Namibia: FAO VME processes and practices workshop. The SPRFMO Data Manager was asked to chair this workshop. The workshop aimed to facilitate understanding of the work that has been done globally in RFMOs, enable the sharing of experience among the regions and assist with the upcoming UNGA review on bottom fisheries in 2016 (UNGA Res. 66/68, para. 137).
FAO is compiling a publication entitled VME Processes and Practices in ABNJ detailing the development of the assessment and management of VMEs in each region to date. This will form a sister volume to the Worldwide Review of Bottom Fisheries in the High Seas that was published by FAO in 2009. FAO also plans to update the Worldwide Review publication using information covering the period 2007 - 2013. The objectives of the Swakopmund workshop were to:
- Present and discuss draft regional chapters on the VME process and practices,
- Outline revisions required for each chapter, and,
- Agree on a plan of work for completing the drafts and a deadline for publishing the document.
A first draft of each chapter had been prepared by the FAO prior to the meeting, which was passed to the representative(s) of the participating RFMOs to review, provide references and return to the FAO. The South Pacific chapter was reviewed by Andrew Penney, Geoff Tingly and Craig Loveridge and is currently within the FAO publications process.
25- 27 February 2015, Swakopmund, Namibia: Meeting of the Intersessional CWP Fishery Subject Group. The SPRFMO Data Manager attended as Observer. Topics that were discussed included:
- Review of the current status of the CWP handbook revision
- Dissemination of the revised handbook on the CWP web page
- Enhancement of the socioeconomic section
- Elaborating the section on standards for GIS data and geospatial presentation
- Streamlining reporting of national statistics
- Fisheries commodities classifications
- Vessels, gear and effort statistics
- Fishery identification
- Role of the CWP in harmonizing/standardising fisheries data
- CWP Membership and direction

23-24 and 27 February 2015, Swakopmund, Namibia: Ninth session of the Fisheries and Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS) Steering Committee. The SPRFMO Data Manager attended as Observer. The Steering Committee recognized that FIRMS had built strong foundations for global reporting on fisheries status and trends and that it had met expectations of most partners. It acknowledged the ongoing progress towards timelier reporting, e.g. with the forthcoming International Council for the Exploration of the Sea web services, or the harvesting capacities developed for serving the Chimaera portal under the SmartFish project.

For information about the external meetings attended by staff and officials in other years, please check the list below: