{"id":8220,"date":"2021-12-17T10:46:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T14:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/edfish\/?p=8220"},"modified":"2021-12-17T10:46:02","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T14:46:02","slug":"indonesia-philippines-learning-exchange-international-collaboration-for-fisheries-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/edfish\/2021\/12\/17\/indonesia-philippines-learning-exchange-international-collaboration-for-fisheries-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia-Philippines learning exchange: International collaboration for fisheries management"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Effective fisheries management is critical to food security, livelihoods for millions of people and vibrant marine life and biodiversity. By empowering communities to sustainably manage marine resources, we can build resilience to climate change, secure healthy oceans and better protect communities that are vulnerable to extreme weather events. This is especially true in the Philippines, where science-based and participatory fisheries management is still in its infancy. Until recently, fisheries policy in the country was premised on political concerns and administrative boundaries rather than species ranges, stock health and other scientific information. But by building science capacity, working across borders and prioritizing participation from fishers and other stakeholders, we are helping to develop effective, science-based fisheries management plans that can help people and nature to thrive.<\/p>\n

Beginning in 2019, the Philippine\u2019s Fisheries Management Area, or FMA, policy was approved, paving the way for a transformation to effective fisheries management, though COVID-19 slowed implementation down considerably. In the last year and a half, the EDF Philippines team focused on building capacity for fisheries science among the country\u2019s National Stock Assessment Program teams, in preparation for a time when the FMA management bodies and stakeholders need the information to develop fisheries management plans.<\/p>\n

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FMA 8, a region on the country\u2019s eastern seaboard, includes Leyte Gulf, Surigao Strait and Dinagat Sound. It is among the most vulnerable to typhoons, storm surges and extreme weather events. Its provinces are among the poorest in the Philippines and the most vulnerable to insurgency. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, or BFAR, lead invited EDF Philippines to partner with them and the FMA 8 management body to develop its first multispecies management plan.<\/p>\n

To kick off the initiative, an online event brought together the EDF Indonesia team and Indonesian government partners and the FMA 8 management body and planning team. The event was an opportunity for the FMA 8 stakeholders and decision-makers to learn how the planning process was implemented in a setting with similar resources, habitats and management challenges. It provided real-life examples of fisheries management planning to anchor the otherwise very theoretical information provided to the stakeholders.<\/p>\n

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The Indonesia team and partners presented fisheries management planning and design efforts, and lessons learned in Lampung and West Java for blue swimming crab and coastal multispecies fisheries from other places in the world. Genuine stakeholder involvement from data gathering to decision-making was an essential element of planning in all three areas, and one that FMA 8 would like to adopt in its own planning process.<\/p>\n

In the breakout rooms after the presentations, participants were asked to discuss three questions:<\/p>\n