Ocean and Fisheries

APEC’s Oceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) was formed in 2011, following a decision to merge the Marine Resource Conservation and the Fisheries working groups (in operation since 1990 and 1991, respectively).

The OFWG’s mission is to support APEC’s mission to foster sustainable economic growth, development and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region.  The OFWG works to facilitate free and open trade in the region and promotes the sustainable use of fisheries, aquaculture, and marine ecosystem resources and related goods and services.  The OFWG will promote cooperation among its members, governments, academia, private industry, and regional and international organizations to advance this process.

The OFWG is committed to

1. Take continued action to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, build capacity to address the negative impacts of IUU fishing on APEC Economies, sustainable fisheries, food security, and continue enacting measures to combat IUU through further implementation of the Roadmap on Combatting IUU fishing
2. Encourage the development of tools to assess and address the physical and economic impacts of marine litter, marine debris, and ghost fishing gear on APEC economies, fisheries, and the marine environment through the progress made in the implementation plan for the Roadmap on Marine Debris
3.  Take action to implement initiatives that contribute to the resilience and sustainability of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in APEC Economies, including support for COVID-19 recovery, fisheries and aquaculture supply chains, the livelihood of communities, and food security
4. Make the aquaculture and fisheries sectors more resilient to climate change and mitigate their contribution to climate change through advancement of conservation and sustainable management regimes
5. Promote continued activities within APEC which are consistent with the common view of the blue economy as agreed at the 3rd OFWG Meeting in 2014
6. Enhance cooperation with relevant public and private stakeholders, including through participation in OFWG initiatives and communication of OFWG materials
7. Recognize the importance of the role played by women in fisheries and aquaculture
8.  Recognize the common challenges faced by the agriculture sector, particularly relative to food security

Contacts

Current Activities

Completed

The 21^st Ocean and Fisheries Working Group plenary meeting took place on 29-30 July 2023 in Seattle. OFWG members actively engaged in the discussion of the updated implementation plans of the 2019 APEC Roadmap on Marine Debris Management, the 2019 Roadmap on Combatting IUU Fishing and how the group should move forward Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture Roadmap. They discussed how OFWG’s work could contribute to implement the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040 including through the Aotearoa Plan of Action, ECOTECH mid-term priorities and Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy as well as the 2023 host economy’s priorities. The OFWG reaffirmed its commitment to “Strong Balanced, Secure, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.” Member economies also shared updates of their economies’ ongoing projects and potential projects.

The 22^nd APEC Roundtable Meeting on the Involvement of the Business/Private Sector in the Sustainability of the Marine Environment took place in hybrid mode on 6-7 September 2023 in Taipei, Chinese Taipei (Chinese Taipei).

The roundtable meeting aimed to provide a platform where stakeholders from public and private sectors with expertise in policies, technologies and business can have comprehensive dialogues on identifying the potentials and challenges as well as best practices to accelerate the development of the sustainable ocean environment, including the blue carbon and marine conservation under offshore wind energy.

APEC Training Workshop on Capacity Building for Blue Citizen was held in hybrid mode on 13-16 September 2023 in Xiamen, China (China).

The training workshop was held to improve the capacity building of “Blue Citizen” in the APEC region. It involved senior experts in the APEC region who focus on marine and coastal conservation and management capacity building, ocean literacy research and practice, ecosystem services enhancement from the ocean and marine education to discuss and extend outreach of the operational approaches of Blue Citizens including the development of a Blue Citizen Guidebook.

Upcoming activities 

The 23^rd OFWG plenary meeting will be held on 14-15 August 2024 in Trujillo. The group will focus on renewing its strategic plan and further discuss member economies’ individual actions and the group’s collective activities to implement the 2019 APEC Roadmap on Marine Debris Management, the 2019 Roadmap on Combatting IUU Fishing and the Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture Roadmap.

Research and Workshop on Development of Sustainable Ventures in Small-Scale Aquaculture in APEC economies study how the APEC economies have been supporting the sustainable development of aquaculture enterprises of micro and small business producers, throughout the aquaculture value chain (research), as well as holding a training virtual workshop (October 2024) to help APEC economies to improve aquaculture production in a sustainable way, which seeks to achieve a balance between the needs of aquaculture farmers and the protection of the environment.