São Paulo – Brazil has joined the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) agreement for conservation and management of fish in deep seas. The country is the 38th state to enter the international agreement and was approved during a FAO ceremony in Rome.
The Brazilian representative at the signing of the agreement was the minister of the Special Secretariat of Aquaculture and Fisheries of Brazil, Altemir Gregolin. The agreement is one of the few international instruments that cover the activities of deep-sea fishing. The states participating said that the ships under their flags should follow responsible practices when in deep waters.
In an address, Gregolin said that Brazil is proud of participating actively in all the processes for negotiation of international legal instruments related to fishery and aquiculture activities. "With the entry of each new country in the agreement, we are coming closer to the target of guaranteeing that each fishing boat in deep seas in the country operates in a responsible manner, guaranteeing the sustainable use of sea resources," added the joint director general for Fisheries at the FAO, Ishiro Nomura.
Brazil joined the agreement during the 28th Session of the FAO Committee of Fisheries, which took place in Rome. The meeting included the participation of representatives of over 80 countries that should debate, among other themes, the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report for 2008. According to the document, responsible fishery practices must be used more and management plans should be expanded to include strategies related to climate change.
Latin America and the Caribbean are the regions that presented the greatest rate of growth in production of fisheries in the world, according to the FAO. The average annual growth in the region was 22% between 1970 and 2006, whereas the global average was 8.8%. "Water culture is the sector of animal-origin food production that grows fastest and, for the first time, should supply half of all the fishery consumed in the world," added Jorge González, who is responsible for the FAO Regional Fishery Office.
Chile is the second greatest producer of salmon in the world, with 31% of the total, and the seventh main producer of fish for human consumption. In the last decade, total production of salmon in Latin American and the Caribbean exceeded shrimp, thanks to the growth of Chilean production. "Latin America and the Caribbean have fishing surpluses, but in general their populations prefer to eat red meat," said González.
*Translated by Mark Ament
