Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research (ACFR)

Background

The Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research (ACFR) was initially established as the Advisory Committee of Experts on Marine Resources Research (ACMRR) by the Director-General following a decision of the FAO Conference at its Eleventh Session in 1961. The mandate of ACMRR was restricted to research relating to marine resources. However, in 1993 the Statutes of ACMRR were revised by the FAO Council and, in so doing, the name of the Committee was changed and its scope and terms of reference amended. This action was taken primarily because of the renewed interest in international fisheries research in the early 1990s, following the publication of a major Study on International Fisheries Research, and the agreement of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) to give new life to FAO's role as a coordinator of fisheries and aquaculture research.

The revised and broadened mandate of ACFR, as agreed by the FAO Council, is to "study and advise the Director-General on the formulation and execution of the Organization's programme of work in respect of all aspects of fisheries research including conservation and management of marine and inland fishery resources, increasing fish productivity through enhancement of wild resources and through aquaculture, improving the means of converting fishery resources into human food and the study of the dynamics of fishing communities and the socio-economic consequences of government fishery policies. Special attention will be provided to the fisheries aspects of oceanographic research and to the impacts of environmental change on the sustainability of fisheries".

The Members of the Committee are selected on the basis of their specialized knowledge. Although the Committee is numerically small, consisting of only eight members, selection has been made to include the widest possible subject matter and geographical representation.

The Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research held its First Session at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, from 25 to 28 November 1997.