A joint statement by the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) and the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency (CFT)
Since the Earth Summit in 1992, it has been widely accepted that the equitable and sustainable management of natural resources depends on public access to information. For marine fisheries, however, the call for improved transparency gained momentum much later. Unlike other natural resource sectors (such as oil, gas and mining), governments are only now starting to disclose basic information on their fisheries sector, such as vessel registries, permits, fishing agreements, stock assessments, financial contributions, catch data and subsidies.
This lack of publicly available information does not necessarily stem from a lack of stakeholder demands or regulatory requirements. Many of the elements included in campaigns for transparency in the fisheries sector are already established in international agreements or policy papers on fisheries reforms, such as FAO’s landmark Code of Conduct on Responsible Fisheries or its Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries. Likewise, Freedom of Information laws regularly demand that the public is able to access information held by governments (including on the country’s fisheries sector) with only limited, explicitly defined exceptions arising from confidentiality claims and security matters.
Many fisheries stakeholders regularly promote transparency in fisheries, including intergovernmental organizations such as the UN-FAO, the UNODC, the World Bank, the OECD as well as non-governmental organizations, including small-scale fishing associations or civil society organizations (CSOs). However, it has become evident that in order to motivate, support and monitor governments in providing access to fisheries information, long-term endeavours are needed. In this context, the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) and the Coalition for Fisheries Transparency (CFT) were established as two separate initiatives with the objective of improving fisheries transparency.
The FiTI is a global multi-stakeholder partnership that brings together representatives from governments, industrial fishing companies, small-scale fishing associations, civil society and intergovernmental organizations, such as the World Bank, the UN-FAO and the Open Government Partnership. Following a two-year global consultation process, a unique consensus was reached in 2017 on what information regarding marine fisheries management should be published online by national authorities. This consensus is manifested in the FiTI Standard, covering 12 thematic areas of environmental, economic and social aspects of marine fisheries management. Since the FiTI’s legal incorporation as a non-profit organization in Seychelles in 2020 the number of governments implementing the FiTI Standard is steadily growing and strengthening fisheries governance through transparency and stakeholder collaboration. This has resulted in unprecedented access to fisheries information in these countries (including fishing access agreements, vessel registries, stock assessments and license data), increasing public understanding and opportunities for stakeholder participation. As an independent organization, the FiTI also strives to provide clear compliance measures to ensure what governments publish is credible, easy to understand and verifiable.
The FiTI Standard is now widely recognised as a unique global framework that supports national authorities in meeting national, regional and international demands regarding access to information, public participation and fisheries governance. For example, the 79 member States of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) committed in their prioritised agenda for action (2023-2025) to achieving the highest fisheries transparency standards, and to at least the minimum Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) standards. Likewise, in a ‘Call for Action’, small-scale fishers from six continents call on their governments to, inter alia, be transparent and accountable in fisheries management by publishing relevant fisheries information to the minimum standards of the FiTI.
The CFT is a global network of civil society organizations across five continents that work together to improve transparency and accountability in fisheries governance and management. Its Global Charter for Fisheries Transparency (short ‘Charter’) was officially launched at Our Ocean Conference in Panama in 2023, following a six-week period of open public comment on the proposed priorities. The Charter is a framework which sets out 10 policy principles developed to support civil society organizations in bringing about effective change in fisheries governance and transparency to support sustainable fisheries, maintain thriving coastal communities, protect crew onboard vessels from human rights and labor abuses at sea and to encourage effective governance. These policy principles seek to address the lack of transparency in three critical areas: vessel information, fishing activity, and governance and management. United around the CFT Charter, the CFT’s members urge governments around the world to adopt the Charter’s 10 principles into law and practice.
The FiTI and the CFT share the common belief that the public availability of information is paramount to achieving sustainable fisheries. Without reliable information the capacity of national authorities to make decisions based on the best available data is diminished. So is the ability of non-governmental stakeholders to exercise effective oversight, demand accountability and engage in public dialogue. Furthermore, both initiatives recognize the benefit of a global alliance of civil society organizations to advocate for enhanced transparency among governments and to utilize published information to hold governments accountable for the benefit of those that depend on a healthy and productive marine environment.
The CFT’s Charter and the FiTI’s Standard have been developed independently with different levels of stakeholder involvement and partially for different purposes. Given that both documents recognize transparency as an important tool to improve fisheries governance, the CFT Charter advocates for the adoption of some policy principles that are already included in the FiTI Standard. This relates to principle 2 on fishing vessel information as well as principle 9 on fisheries data and participation in fisheries decision-making. At the same time, the CFT Charter advocates for requirements that go beyond the purpose of strengthening participatory governance in fisheries, such as targeting illegal fishing or human rights and labor abuses. Hence, several policy principles of the Charter are not part of the FiTI Standard, such as the publication of vessel positions, control systems that ensure seafood is legal and traceable or to stop the use of flags of convenience by fishing vessels.
Despite the differences in how both initiatives were established, as well as the scope of public information they target and their engagement approaches, it is the FiTI’s and the CFT’s shared understanding that both initiatives can work in synergy in promoting transparency for fisheries governance.
- For those governments that are already implementing the FiTI Standard and that are willing to embrace the CFT Charter as well, the Charter’s policy principles 2 and 9 are already met – and even surpassed – given the FiTI Standard’s comprehensive and in-depth approach regarding fisheries management information. Guided by the expertise of local civil society partners, the CFT and its members identify which Charter principles are most vital for governments to adopt and possible to implement. Having these critical principles 2 and 9 established in law and practice facilitates the adoption of the Charter’s additional principles.
- Where governments have embraced the CFT Charter but are not yet implementing the FiTI, CFT supports in creating the enabling conditions by which a government may subsequently become a FiTI country, both by socialising fisheries transparency measures broadly and by specifically advocating for the implementation of the FiTI Standard. The FiTI Standard provides a structured and stakeholder-led framework to ensure that the Charter’s policy principles (i.e. 2 and 9) are met. Crucially, the FiTI Standard is the only internationally agreed framework through which governments can credibly demonstrate their compliance with these two policies of the Charter. This also avoids the risk that national authorities can interpret transparency of fisheries management at their own will and to their own benefit.
Additionally, the FiTI Standard ensures that published government information is useful for non-governmental stakeholders to engage in policy debates, decision-making processes, and exercise oversight, as the FiTI Standard demands the publication of aggregated and disaggregated data for its transparency requirements, including for fishing vessel information and fisheries data (e.g. catches according to flag state, type of fishing gear, etc.). Also, by implementing the FiTI Standard to demonstrate their commitment to the Charter’s principles 2 and 9, national authorities can improve internal data quality and the sharing of information across data silos and identify important data gaps and/to? arrive at stakeholder-agreed recommendations for progressive improvement.
Members of the CFT that operate in countries implementing the FiTI Standard benefit from an independent and globally proven approach to hold countries accountable for their commitment to increasing transparency of fisheries. The FiTI establishes National Multi-Stakeholder Groups in each country (comprising representatives from a country’s government agencies, businesses (industrial and artisanal) and civil society) to ensure that transparency efforts by governments are credible, useful, and sustainable. This provides designated non-governmental stakeholders – such as CSOs and small-scale fishing representatives – with an institutionalised ‘seat at the table’ when it comes to discussing fisheries data and transparency-related actions and policies. CFT’s civil society members can be natural candidates for FiTI’s National Multi-Stakeholder Groups and could therefore play a crucial and active role in the implementation and verification process within their countries. These Multi-Stakeholder Group meetings will also be beneficial to stakeholders to voice concerns, enrich policy development and ensure that measures adopted are well-suited to the unique challenges faced by these stakeholders. Further, CFT members are valuable partners in continuing to hold governments accountable based on the information made public through the implementation of the FiTI Standard.
Advocating for the public availability of critical fisheries information aims to empower governments, civil society, and other stakeholders to engage in informed decision-making, enhance accountability, and foster greater trust in fisheries governance around the world. The ultimate expected impact of fisheries transparency is to enhance fisheries sustainability and pave the way for a healthier ocean, more resilient coastal communities, and a future where the benefits of fisheries are shared equitably.
