Permanent Secretary for Fisheries Pene Baleinabuli attended the World Fisheries Day celebration in Nausori today (21/11/22).
The day is themed ‘Take Care of your Environment’ and is celebrated on the 21st of November every year to demonstrate solidarity with all fisher folk, fish farmers, and concerned stakeholders throughout the world.
The local celebration, while held at Nausori Town culminated with a tree and mangrove planting exercise at the Nakalawaca Village in Namara, Tailevu.
“As you know, the 21st of November is a day dedicated by the United Nations to World Fisheries Day. So, all over the world, countries, people who have fishing industries or people who know countries who know their people, depend on fisheries, actually get to observe and celebrate the importance of this day,” the Permanent Secretary said.
“Here in Fiji, we've got celebrations happening in various centres and the main one was here at Nausori, culminating in our tree planting and mangrove planting here at Namara,” said PS Balenabuli.
The Permanent Secretary added that protecting our fisheries and ensuring their sustainability requires a lot of effort.
“It will require concerted and relentless effort. That is what is required. Commitment and just ongoing collaboration with all the stakeholders.”
“Of course, there's a need for us to continue those discussions, to continue to come to the middle ground, to agree that as we try to generate economic growth from our fisheries, we must also place some equal importance on protecting and therefore conserving our resources for the future generations.”
A recent United Nations study reported that more than two-thirds of the world's fisheries have been overfished or are fully harvested and more than one-third are in a state of decline because of factors such as the loss of essential fish habitats, pollution, and global warming.
World Fisheries Day helps in highlighting the critical importance to human lives, of water and the lives it sustains, both in and out of water. Water forms a continuum, whether contained in rivers, lakes, and oceans.
World Fisheries Day started in 1997 when the “World Forum of Fish Harvesters & Fish Workers” met in New Delhi leading to the formation of the “World Fisheries Forum” with representatives from 18 countries and signed a declaration advocating for a global mandate of sustainable fishing practices and policies.
The event aims to draw attention to overfishing, habitat destruction, and other serious threats to the sustainability of our marine and freshwater resources. The celebrations focus on changing how the world manages global fisheries to ensure sustainable stocks and a healthy ecosystem.