Presentation delivered on the occasion of the 153rd FAO Council, held in FAO, HQ, Rome, Italy, on Friday 4 December 2015

1. Presentation by Mr Árni M. Mathiesen
Assistant Director-General
Fisheries and Aquaculture Department Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

2. 1995 - 2015

3. An international celebration for
20 years of the Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries
• Celebrated in Vigo, Spain at the First
International Fisheries Stakeholder
Forum, 8-9 October 2015
• Co-organized with Government of
Spain, Regional Government of Galicia,
and Conxemar (Spanish seafood industry)
• More than 600 participants, including 70 delegations from 5 continents
• Delegations included 10 Ministers, 12 Vice-Ministers, 10 Directors-General of
Fisheries organizations, and the EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime
Affairs & Fisheries
• Also celebrated in Bergen, Norway at the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (March
2015), Grimsby, UK World Seafood Congress (September 2015) and at fisheries
events at Expo Milano (May-October 2015), COFI Subcommittee on Aquaculture
(October 2015) and the Foro Económico de la Pesca y Acuacultura, Mexico City
(November 2015). Created videos and communication material.

4. An international celebration for
20 years of the Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries
• Participants praised progress made
under the Code in its first two decades,
and voiced a new commitment to
strengthening work related to the Code
• Main outcomes from Vigo:
 Renewed emphasis on combating IUU fishing, with numerous calls to
ratify the Port State Measures Agreement
 A stronger role for the Code in managing socioeconomic factors (e.g,
Voluntary Guidelines on Small-scale fisheries, decent work) and its
relation to Blue Growth
 A call for FAO to help prepare countries for seafood certification

5. An international celebration for
20 years of the Code of Conduct
for Responsible Fisheries
• Main outcomes following the anniversary
event of Vigo and various fora celebrating the
Code throughout the year:
 Increased awareness among policymakers,
industry & society at large about importance of
Code for meeting future challenges and role of Blue Growth Initiative
 A call for FAO to explore further a Blue Growth Industry Forum similar to
the Banana Forum that already operates in cooperation with FAO
 Need for increased dialogue and collaboration between FAO and the
private sector, through Blue Growth and GLOBEFISH
 Increased awareness of role of social issues and FAO’s full integration of
sustainable livelihoods for fish workers in developing countries into its
work programme