Reflecting changes in the landscape around fisheries and ocean governance, the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) is making its resources and voice more public, by launching an internet presence for the first time.
ICFA has been in existence for almost four decades as a collective of national fish and seafood industry associations from the world’s major fishing nations, providing decision makers with a unified voice on global issues.
‘While ICFA has been around for almost 40 years, it has always been a deliberative industry body with deep ties to the UN and a heavy emphasis on global policy. We didn’t really have the need for a public presence on the web,’ said ICFA Chair Paul Lansbergen, President of the Fisheries Council of Canada.
‘But with biodiversity negotiations, treaties, and resolutions that require so much stakeholder input these days we decided to make our resources and voice more public.’
The coalition includes 24 seafood industry associations from Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Latin America. ICFA participates in the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Committee on Fisheries, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, among others. ICFA maintains Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and meets regularly in Rome for policy discussions and to interface with the FAO.
‘I encourage the seafood community to visit the site,’ Paul Lansbergen said. ‘Our achievements and priorities are spelled out and it’s a new platform for us to engage with industry voices who we might not have heard from. Not to put too fine a point on it but, watch this space.”
