Can Tho (VNA) – The APEC Ocean and FisheriesWorking Group (OFWG) opened its ninth annual meeting in Can Tho city on August21 to discuss a common action plan for the APEC economies and regional andglobal cooperation activities to sustainably develop fisheries and sea- andocean-related fields.

The meeting is part of the APEC Food SecurityWeek and a high level policy dialogue on enhancing food security andsustainable agriculture in response to climate change in the Mekong Delta city.

At the event, delegates from the 21 APECeconomies focus their discussions on the region’s common action plan onensuring sustainable use and development of fisheries resources in Asia-Pacific,the improvement of coastal communities’ resilience to natural disasters, andthe enhancement of the economies’ connectivity to protect the marineenvironment and effectively exploit ocean resources.

They are scheduled to update on theimplementation of some initiatives in promoting the marine debris treatmentcapacity, build a set of tools to assess ecological risks caused by climatechange impacts on fisheries, and look for ways to attract the private sector tomarine environment protection and sustainable livelihood and fisheriespromotion.

Tran Dinh Luan, Deputy General Director of theDirectorate of Fisheries under Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, said the APEC members account for more than 80 percent of theaquaculture output and over 65 percent of the exploitation output in the world.Their seafood consumption is also much higher than the global average.

Therefore, it is critical to form a commonaction strategy to increase exploitation and aquaculture output and reduce post-harvestlosses, he noted. 

He added the region’s fisheries are also facingnumerous challenges as worsening and unpredictable climate change is making theregion’s fisheries more vulnerable to natural disasters and diseases.

As the host country, Vietnam will make effortsto help the meeting reach the expected outcomes, Luan said, adding that it willalso make active contribution so that its initiatives can leave a hallmark inthe region’s common action plan and relevant projects.

The ninth meeting of the OFWG is set to lastthrough August 22.-VNA