Moscow, June 27. Representatives of major international fisheries management organizations will take part in the III Global Fishery Forum in St. Petersburg, including the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

The Global Fishery Forum and International Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood and Technologies (Seafood Expo Russia) will be held in St. Petersburg for the third time. The main topic of the business programme and plenary session is "Ocean of Opportunities: Nature, Economy, and People". Jacques Verborg, President of the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), and Suam Kim, President of the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC), will speak at the session.

On the same day, at the roundtable "Digitalization as a Tool for the Transformation of the Fisheries Industry", Abdellah Srour, Executive Secretary of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea (GFCM) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will talk about effective detection and control of IUU fishing vessels.

At the roundtable "The Arctic and Antarctica: Resource Potential, Ban or Fishing, Elements of Cooperation", Anne Christine Brusendorff, General Secretary of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), will make a presentation on "Fish distribution and fishing in the waters of Russia, Denmark (Greenland) and Norway adjacent to the central Arctic Ocean using a common ICE approach". For his part, David Agnew, Executive Secretary of CCAMLR, will elaborate on the management systems of aquatic biological resources in the Antarctic.

At the Global Fishery Forum 2018, representatives of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) took part in all the business programme events, the most significant having been the opening of the International Salmon Year and a general meeting with Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Russia and Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries.

"Cooperation within regional fisheries management organisations has long proven effective in terms of conserving fish stocks and ensuring sustainable fisheries. We believe that the optimal approach to improving the management of shared fishing areas is sustainable development of these organizations under the auspices of the FAO. I am sure that participation in the discussion of the III Forum agenda, including by heads of RFMOs, will foster a lively discussion at a high, expert level," - Ilya Shestakov stressed.

Previously, President of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) Joannes Hansen noted that the II Global Fishery Forum had been well prepared and gave thanks for the warm welcome during last year's events. "I was very pleased to participate in the launch of the International Salmon Year together with Mr Shestakov and the President of the NPAFC. It was also a great honour for me to participate in the meeting with the Head of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, together with representatives of other organizations. We discussed a number of important topics of mutual interest, including creation of a new global document based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction) and the role of RFMOs in the future," - he said.

Most members of the sectoral regional organizations share Russia's view that the management of international waters should be at the regional level (within the framework of the NEAFC, NAFO, etc.), and not at the global level. In this respect, the Forum serves as a useful platform and provides an opportunity for discussing the current challenges faced by RFMOs, their further development and cooperation.

Representatives of relevant authorities and ministries from Sri Lanka, the Republic of Guinea, Bulgaria, Namibia, Turkey, Cambodia, Japan, Madagascar, the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Senegal, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Iceland and Spain will also participate in the Forum.
The III Global Fishery Forum and International Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood and Technology (Seafood Expo Russia) will be held from 10 to 12 July 2019 in St. Petersburg, at the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre. The organizer is the Federal Agency for Fisheries with the information support of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. The Forum is operated by Roscongress Foundation, and the Exhibition – by the Expo Solutions Group.

The official website of the Global Fishery Forum: fishexpoforum.com

The official website of the International Exhibition of Fish Industry, Seafood and Technology: rusfishexpo.com