Building human capacity on fish stock assessment in Southeast Asia towards sustainable use of fishery resources

SEAFDEC and FAO co-hosted the Consultative Planning and Training Workshop on Stock Assessment in Support the Implementation of the International Commitments for Sustainable Use of Fisheries Resources in Southeast Asia on 9 and 13–17 December 2021through the online platform. The resource persons were the experts on fish stock assessment from the FAO as well as University of Washington and University of Wisconsin, USA. The participants include fisheries officers from the SEAFDEC Member Countries (i.e. Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam) involved in fish stock assessment; officers from the SEAFDEC Secretariat, Training Department, and Marine Fishery Resources Development and Management Department; and representatives from FAO.

During the Consultative Planning on 9 December 2021, the participants shared information and views on the level of understanding and knowledge of fish stock assessment methods being used by the countries, as well as discussed the plan for future comprehensive training courses.

Moreover, the participants in the Training session on 13–17 December 2021 learned the basic fisheries stock assessment principles and types of data analyses and obtained better understanding of formulating appropriate fisheries management policies in their respective countries.

The Consultative Planning and Training Workshop was a mandate from the SEAFDEC Council to enhance the capacity of the SEAFDEC Member Countries to determine the reference points of the stock status for proper fisheries management plan for sustainable utilization of fishery resources along with the project “Assistance for Capacity Development in the Region to Address International Fisheries-related Issues” funded by the government of Japan through the Japanese Trust Fund.