Un Food And Agriculture Organization News

Ukraine is desperately trying to export its vast stores of grain by road, river and rail to help avert a global food crisis but has no chance of hitting its targets unless Russia's blockade of its Black Sea ports is lifted, a government official said.Before Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, the country had the capacity to export up to 6 million tonnes of wheat, barley and maize a month but exports collapsed to just 300,000 tonnes in March and 1.1 million in April.While the government wants to lift that to 2 million…

The oceans are under siege, campaigners warn, and fish stocks could collapse unless a global deal is struck swiftly to ban harmful fisheries subsidies. The World Trade Organization, meanwhile, can't agree on who will head the committee to discuss the issue, according to sources close to the negotiations.More than 90 percent of fish stocks are at maximum sustainable levels or overfished, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, and environmentalists say a subsidies…

National workshop discussed China's potential ratification and implementation of fisheries-related conventions, including IMO's 2012 Cape Town Agreement (CTA), aimed at improving safety standards on fishing vessels, and the 1995 Standards on Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F).Fisheries-related conventions are key tools used by flag, coastal and port States to effectively monitor and control fishing vessels and minimize the risk of illegal…

Fisheries-related conventions are key tools used by flag, coastal and port States to effectively monitor and control fishing vessels and minimise the risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, by enhancing transparency, traceability and governance.This was the focus of a national workshop in Shanghai, China (29-30 July),  organized by the Shanghai Ocean University and the Bureau of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China, with input from International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), The Pew Charitable Trusts and the IMO Number Scheme manager (IHS Markit).Participants discussed China's potential ratification and implementation of fisheries-related conventions…

While exact figures are hard to come by, preliminary, conservative estimates of fatalities in fishing are now over 32 000 people annually. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that the number of fishers injured or suffering from work-related illnesses are much higher. Fatalities and accidents have major impacts on fishers' families, fishing crews and fishing communities. These stark figures provided the background to talks at the Fifth International Fishing Industry Safety & Health Conference (iFish5) (10–13 June), in St. John’s, Canada. IMO’s Sandra Allnutt outlined International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s work to address fishing vessel safety. She emphasised the need for more countries to ratify the 2012 Cape Town Agreement on fishing vessel safety.

CSIRO will be releasing a fleet of floating bio-robots between Christmas Island and Madagascar next week to measure biological indicators in the Indian Ocean including dissolved oxygen, nitrate, organic matter and particles. A bio-robot is a robot which can measure properties relevant to biology like organic matter. Four bio-robots, each worth up to $100,000, are being dropped into masses of spinning water. It will be the first time CSIRO has used the new BioArgo robotic floats to measure this massively under-sampled part of the world. "These can tell us about the growth of plankton, how much carbon they take up, how much gets used up the food chain and how much gets buried," CSIRO project leader Dr Nick Hardman-Mountford said.

After hours casting their nets close to the Gaza shore, Palestinian fishermen sift through their catch in the dim dawn light, managing to scrape together a few piles of puny fish. It's a miserable catch, the result, they say, of restrictions imposed by Israel, with boats allowed only three nautical miles (5.6 km) offshore after a month of no fishing at all during the recent fighting. For years Gaza's fishing community - once one of its proudest and most productive industries - has been caught in the middle of a maritime feud, part of a wider conflict between the blockaded Palestinian enclave and Israel. As Palestinian and Israeli negotiators meet independently with Egyptian officials to try to reach an agreement to end the latest conflict that began on July 8…

Greenpeace accused the European Union of blocking international efforts to stop illegal and unregulated fishing boats from depleting world fish stocks. The environmental organization said the EU, along with Mexico and Brazil, were trying to weaken a U.N. pact on illegal fishing due to be agreed at a meeting in Rome later this week. The U.N. Vessels registered in countries such as Belize, Honduras and Panama, which are not party to regional fishing treaties, are not bound by rules such as fish quotas or regulations on types of nets that can be used. "They are ruthlessly exploiting already depleted fish populations and robbing legitimate fishermen of millions of honestly earned dollars," Greenpeace said.