By Loretta B Manele
The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.4 is targeted at ensuring Pacific Island countries are sustainably managing the world’s fish stocks.
Ambassador Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary General (UNSG), Special Envoy for the Ocean spoke about this during a high-level discussion at the Honiara Summit- “Umi Tugeda Delivering on SDG 14:4 Achieving Sustainable Fisheries” at the Friendship Hall yesterday.
He said they are gathered at the summit to examine the progress of their implementation of SDG 14.4 of which the target is to ensure that Pacific Island countries are sustainably looking after the world’s fish stocks.
Thomson stated that under the SDG 14.4 goal, they are called to effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices.
He highlighted that this goal demands that they implement science-based management plans in order to restore fish stocks to the biologically sustainable levels in the world in the shortest possible time.
Moreover, Thomson said they have seen brave efforts in the establishment and expansion of marine protected areas around the world and have made commendable advances in combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
“We’re very close to WTO bans on harmful fisheries subsidies and can demonstrate growing support for small-scale fishes and economic benefits to CIDs and LDCs from marine resources.”
However, he pointed that implementation of the SDG 14.4 goal is not advancing at the speed or scale required to fully meet this goal by 2030.
Thomson emphasized that to meet this goal they have to carefully consider what is going on in the ocean as a whole.
“The ocean is acidifying, it’s warming, resulting in movement of species, in changing ecosystems, and the demise of coral and rising sea levels.
We are continuing to pollute and overexploit the ocean with what seems at times to be scant regard for the tipping points that will make a life on this planet so difficult for coming generations of humans and animals.”
Thomson said at the biennial SOFIA meetings in Rome, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) consistently advised that assessed global fish stocks are being overexploited by a factor of over a third.
He added that for the fish stocks involved and those who depend on them for food security, that statistic does not reflect well on our sustainable use of the ocean’s resources.
Thomson stated that the purpose of this summit must be the why and where of overexploitation and when and how it can be rectified.
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