IUCN Key Messages for 37th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI37)
The 37th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI37) will take place from 7–11 September 2026 at FAO Headquarters in Rome in hybrid format. COFI is the principal global intergovernmental forum for governments to review and consider international fisheries and aquaculture issues and provides policy recommendations to governments, regional fishery bodies and the wider international community.
COFI37 provides an important opportunity for IUCN to reinforce the fundamental relationship between sustainable fisheries and healthy, biodiverse and resilient marine ecosystems, and to promote greater coherence between fisheries governance and the wider international biodiversity, climate and ocean governance frameworks.
Healthy fisheries depend on a healthy ocean. Sustainable fisheries, food security and livelihoods rely on functioning, biodiverse and resilient coastal and marine ecosystems. Fisheries require effective management to be sustainable. Yet more than one-third of assessed marine fish stocks are overfished according to FAO’s latest Fisheries and Aquaculture report, while climate change, biodiversity loss, coastal development, pollution and other cumulative pressures are rapidly transforming coasts and ocean. COFI 37 provides an important opportunity to advance ecosystem-based, precautionary and climate-resilient fisheries management, alongside the protection and restoration of critical coastal and marine habitats, while strengthening coherence and cooperation across the international ocean governance framework.
Our key messages:
- Advance the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity through ecosystem-based fisheries management.
- Integrate climate resilience into fisheries governance and aquaculture development.
- Harness the BBNJ Agreement to strengthen fisheries and ocean governance.
- Strengthen coherence between fisheries governance and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
- Eliminate IUU fishing and strengthen global disciplines on harmful fisheries subsidies.
- Accelerate Action towards 2030.
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