February 2026 – The International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) welcomes the FAO Committee on FisheriesFisheries Management Sub-Committee meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, 23-27 February 2026.
Despite clear evidence that effective fisheries management has contributed to enhanced fisheries sustainability, several significant challenges persist, such as: gaps and weaknesses in scientific data; gaps in regional coverage; growing impact of climate change; and, limited human and institutional capacity.
Regarding the COFI-FM agenda, ICFA:
- Urges Member States to collaborate to bring 100% of fisheries under effective management whileincentivizing transformation of technologies and innovation of fishing practices by the fishing sectorand partnering with relevant sectors to leverage its robust data and scientific capacity.
- Supports FAO assisting Member States with additional technical assistance, capacity development,and guidance, with a priority on improving data-poor and capacity-limited situations.
- Supports strengthening regional cooperation in the management of multispecies fisheries, especiallythrough Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), including the establishment of anew RFMO in the southwest Atlantic Ocean.
- Encourages Member States to improve their reporting on fishing fleets to FAO’s Global Record,enabling FAO to better support implementation of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
- Supports the development of further policy and technical guidance needed to operationalize theintegration of social dimensions into fisheries management tools including eco-labeling, particularlyin data-poor contexts.
More broadly, ICFA raises two important points:
- Overall, bottom trawling is perceived less as a purely technical fishing method and more as a proxyfor broader tensions between conservation, food production, climate action, and social equity. Publicperception is largely negative and emotive, while expert and industry views tend to be moreconditional and management-focused. This divergence in perceptions continues to drive polariseddebate and policy uncertainty worldwide.
Therefore, there is a need to undertake an independent global review of the science of bottom trawling to factually inform the debate regarding the fishing method, its active footprint, benthic impact, carbon emissions, changes made since its inception, bycatch, social and economic measures and relevance to food systems and protein provision.
ICFA calls on Member States to direct FAO to prepare a report on the global review on bottom trawling as a method for protein production - ICFA notes that more than 80% of RFMO-regulated deep-sea areas are closed to bottomfishing. Further, only 0.7% of global marine capture production is from high seas areas notcovered by RFMO mandates (95% of which is in the Southwest Atlantic). Establishingregional cooperation, reporting and management in these ocean areas should be an utmostpriority.
“There is strong evidence that where fisheries are effectively managed, stocks are either at or above target levels, or in the process of rebuilding.” says Ivan López Van de Veen, ICFA Board Chair. He continues, “Strengthening fisheries management more broadly is essential to reversing the global trend on the decline in fish stocks and securing the critical role that blue foods play in global food security.”
Visit fishcoalition.org to learn more about sustainable fishing.
