The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020

particularly in coastal and island developing 
nations, often due to a lack of skills, technology 
and infrastructure. These inefficiencies reduce 
wealth extraction from value addition, cause 
post-harvest losses and reduce market access 
opportunities. The BGI also aims to engage with 
other relevant sectors using oceans or inland 
waters around key policies, investment and 
innovations in support of sustainable growth 
in fisheries and aquaculture and which open up 
new economic opportunities in ecosystem goods 
and services.
FAO’s Blue Growth Initiative in action
FAO’s BGI has proved relevant to many 
developing coastal countries at different 
scales – local, national, regional and global. 
Moving the BGI from concept to action, several 
field projects enabled beneficiary countries to 
weigh the relative importance of the different 
sectors. Thus, based on their own circumstances, 
they were able to decide which sectors to 
prioritize, including with regard to trade-offs 
among different groups of oceans and wetlands 
users and how to ensure sustainability via 
proper stewardship of ecosystems supporting 
production from those sectors. The following 
are illustrative examples of BGI activities to 
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THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE 
2020
inform of the vast possibilities for promoting 
a good balance between sustained growth of 
fisheries and aquaculture, conservation and 
social responsibility. 
International advocacy
At the core of BGI promotion and 
implementation, advocacy by FAO senior 
management and experts in international 
forums is key. Increasing awareness around 
the BGI, and mobilizing international support 
and resources were vital for enabling actions, 
piloting innovative BGI approaches, sharing and 
disseminating results and scaling up successful 
experiences. Examples of international forums 
organized by or with the participation of 
FAO include: 
„
Asia Conference on Oceans, Food Security and 
Blue Growth (Indonesia, 2013);
„
Global Oceans Action Summit for Food 
Security and Blue Growth (the Netherlands, 
2014);
„
Launch of the Global Action Network 
on Blue Growth and Food Security 
(Grenada, 2015);
FIGURE 50
DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND MANAGEMENT INSTRUMENTS 
NOTE: Instrument type – red = international legal; green = environmental; blue = management.
SOURCE: FAO.
1982
United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
1995
United Nations
Fish Stocks Agreement
United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS)
2003
FAO 
Compliance
Agreement
2014
Port State Measures
Agreement
1992
1972
United Nations Conference on Environment and 
Development (UNCED): Rio Declaration, Convention 
on Biodiversity, Agenda 21 (Chapter 17)
1995
Jakarta Mandate on marine
and coastal biodiversity
2012
United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (Rio+20)
2002
World Summit
for Sustainable 
Development (WSSD)
United Nations 
Conference on the 
Human Environment
2015
Paris Agreement
on Climate Change
1992
Instruments in support of the Code: 4 international plans of action (sharks, seabirds, capacity, IUU); 
2 strategies on improving status and trends of capture fisheries and aquaculture; more than 
42 international and technical guidelines
1995
Cancun International Conference 
on Responsible Fisheries
2001
Reykjavik Declaration on 
Responsible Fisheries in the 
Marine Ecosystem
Code of Conduct for 
Responsible Fisheries
2015
Sustainable 
Development 
Goal 14
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PART 2 
SUSTAINABILITY IN ACTION
„
fisheries and aquaculture in the context 
of the blue economy, at the High Level 
Conference – Feeding Africa (Senegal, 
2015), and at the Sustainable Blue Economy 
Conference (Kenya, 2018). 
Examples of national awareness-increasing 
activities and consultations among the users of 
ocean and inland waters include:
„
Morocco: development of a blue belt strategy, 
which was presented at twenty-second session 
of the Conference of the Parties (2016); 
„
Bangladesh Blue Economy Dialogue on 
Fisheries and Mariculture to enhance 
environmental and social sustainability of 
fisheries and aquaculture and to explore new 
opportunities in marine aquaculture;
„
a national workshop in Madagascar to review 
its national blue economy strategy and 
elaborate a road map for its implementation. 
Implementation of FAO’s Blue Growth Initiative 
Since its launch in 2013, BGI activities have been 
implemented in various regions and countries. 
Detailed information on these activities can 
be accessed through a dedicated web page and 
blog (FAO, 2020e). Below are three examples 
to illustrate the BGI in action at the national, 
regional and international levels.