FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945 to lead international efforts to defeat hunger, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and natural resource management. It is the main UN agency focused on global food security. The FAO has over 190 members, and has its headquarters in Rome, Italy. The remit of the FAO includes fisheries and aquaculture management. The organization collects, analyses, and disseminates global data and statistics on fisheries and aquaculture, including on the environmental and social dimensions of these industries. The FAO also develops technical standards and guidelines to support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development and coordinates international efforts to manage fisheries in a sustainable way. This includes efforts to prevent and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Several Regional Fisheries Bodies have been established under Article XIV of the FAO Constitution. The FAO is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the FAO Compliance Agreement, which aims to ensure compliance of fishing vessels in the High Seas with international conservation and management measures. It un also acts as secretariat for the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) focused on preventing and eliminating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. For more information on FAO, see the organization’s website. (https://www.fao.org/home/en/) For up-to-date information on the organization’s fisheries and aquaculture work, see this page on its website. (https://www.fao.org/fishery/en)