Meeting Report on the First Scoping Meeting on Collaboration between Regional Seas Programme and Regional Fisheries Bodies in the Southwest Indian Ocean, 14 March 2016

It has become increasingly clear that cross-sectoral cooperation is crucial and beneficial particularly to the context of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on the concept of the ecosystem based management (EBM) and ecosystem approaches to fisheries (EAF), UNEP and FAO have been collaborating through various initiatives to bring the environment and fishery sectors together to strengthen collaboration on issues of common interest with a view to securing sustainable food provisioning underpinned by healthy and functional marine and coastal ecosystems.

At the regional level, various experiences of cooperation exist between Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs) and Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (RSCAPs) in different regions including the Collective Arrangements between the OSPAR Commission and North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC).

In this context, the East Africa region is one of the key areas where UNEP and FAO can provide technical assistance based on the experiences in the other regions across the world to foster further cooperation between the two types of regional organisations: RSCAPs and RFBs.

The First Scoping meeting on collaboration between the Regional Seas programme and Regional Fisheries Bodies in the Southwest Indian Ocean was held on 14 March 2016 via a video conference in order to identify potential areas of cooperation between the Secretariats of the three relevant organisations: the Nairobi Convention (NBC), the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC) and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).