SCALE FISHERIES
PART 3: ENSURING AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT AND SUPPORTING IMPLEMENTATION
13. IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT, MONITORING AND EVALUATION
13.1. These Guidelines recognize the need for broad support of the implementation of their provisions in order to make them effective and have a real impact on food security and nutrition, poverty eradication, equitable development and sustainable resource utilization. The Guidelines emphasize that implementation policies or strategies should be developed through participatory and transparent processes involving small-scale fishing communities and other relevant stakeholders.
13.2. All parties should ensure that programmes, policies and technical assistance to secure sustainable small-scale fisheries through the implementation of the Guidelines should be consistent with existing obligations under international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. 19
13.3. All parties should collaborate and promote the implementation of these Guidelines, promoting aid effectiveness and responsible use of financial resources. Development partners, specialized agencies of the United Nations, and regional organizations are encouraged to support voluntary efforts by States to implement these Guidelines, including through South-South cooperation20. Such support could include technical cooperation, financial assistance, institutional capacity development, knowledge sharing and exchange of experiences, assistance in developing national small-scale fisheries policies and transfer of technology.21
13.4. States and all other parties should work together to create awareness of the Guidelines, also by disseminating simplified and translated versions for the benefit of those working in small-scale fisheries. States and all other parties should develop a specific set of materials on gender to secure the effective dissemination of information on gender and women’s role in small-scale fisheries and to highlight steps that need to be taken to support their work.
13.5. States should elaborate assessment methodologies that allow a better understanding and documentation of the true contribution of small-scale fisheries, including both men and women. States should modify and adopt information and statistical systems that allow monitoring and evaluation of vulnerability and poverty in small-scale fishing communities.
19 Based on § 1.1 of the Tenure Guidelines
20 Sentence cited from § 26.3 of the Tenure Guidelines
21 Based on § 26.3 of the Tenure Guidelines
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13.6. States should facilitate the formation of national level platforms, with cross-sectoral representation and with strong representation of CSOs, to oversee implementation of the Guidelines.
Legitimate representatives of small-scale fishing communities should be involved both in the development and application of implementation strategies for the Guidelines and in monitoring and evaluation.
13.7. States should recognize the importance of accountability and put in place monitoring and evaluation systems that assess progress towards implementation of the objectives and recommendations in these Guidelines. Such systems should allow for accountability monitoring and evaluation at local, national and international level. Assessments of the impact on the progressive realization of the right to adequate food and on poverty eradication should be included. These mechanisms should be in line with the guiding principles on human rights impact assessments by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Mechanisms allowing the results of monitoring and evaluation to feed back into policy formulation and implementation should be included. Gender should be taken into consideration in monitoring and evaluation by using gender- sensitive approaches, indicators and data.
13.8. All parties should support the undertaking of regular reviews on the implementation of these Guidelines, using participatory assessment approaches and engaging relevant associations and organizations.
13.9. States should give FAO the mandate to compile monitoring and evaluation information and assess progress towards achieving the objectives of these Guidelines, while ensuring that the institutional capacity within FAO for the same is strengthened. These monitoring and evaluation reports should be made available to all parties. States should also recommend FAO to establish a mechanism to allow for participatory and inclusive discussions on best practices with a view to accelerating learning across states.
13.10. States should consider requesting the Committee on World Food Security to monitor the implementation of the Guidelines. Given the strong links of the Guidelines with food security, the office of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food may be requested to support this monitoring process.
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Annex 13
REGIONAL COOPERATION ON SUSTAINABLE NERITIC TUNA FISHERIES IN THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN WATERS
I. BACKGROUND
Throughout the Southeast Asian region, tunas are commonly found and abundant, including several species of oceanic and neritic tunas. While the oceanic tunas migrate over larger areas, the neritic tunas such as longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol), kawakawa or eastern little tuna (Euthynnus affinis), frigate tuna (Auxis thazard) and bullet tuna (Auxis rochei) are more common within the economic zones and sub-regional seas of Southeast Asia. In common, all tuna resources have a high economically importance generating export revenues for the countries of the region as well as to provide important protein sources for domestic consumption. While availability of oceanic tuna has been declining, neritic tuna species are gaining more economic importance. Neritic tuna species have increasingly become the target for commercial and local fisheries as attractive prices are offered by processing companies. However, there are still uncertainties on the distribution, migration utilization of tuna stocks in the waters and sub-regions of Southeast Asia.
Without further clarification and dialogue, it would be difficult to develop appropriate tuna management plans at national and sub-regional levels.
While management efforts with regards to the exploitation of oceanic tunas is covered by recommendations provided by the Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, such as the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and the West Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), there are important work to be done within the Southeast Asian Region to promote common approaches to management of the utilization of neritic tunas. To ensure the sustainable use of available regional resources and to maximize economic benefits for the Region, it is crucial to seek for collaborative management plans for neritic tuna fisheries in the region and sub-regions. Regional collaboration will be continued to be, crucial for the sustainability of these rich and important trans-boundary resources. This was also emphasized by the 45th SEAFDEC Council Meeting in 2013 that called for the development of a plan of action regional cooperation on neritic tunas in the Southeast Asian Region.
During the 45th SEAFDEC Council Meeting, the SEAFDEC Council Directors supported a proposal to strengthen regional cooperation to promote conservation and management for sustainable neritic tuna fisheries in the Southeast Asian Waters as proposed by SEAFDEC Secretariat. Through regional and sub- regional cooperation the countries – and producers – need to be able to show and verify the sustainability of targeted neritic tuna fisheries.
The Council Directors agreed that SEAFDEC Secretariat should develop a plan of action, which could include aspects such as efforts to enhance traceability, tuna catch certification, the conduct of joint stock assessments of tuna resources, etc. Successful implementation would help combating illegal and destructive (IUU) fishing on neritic tuna resources in the Southeast Asian Region.