India has been working with coastal fishing communities to fight this menace

Co-hosting a virtual workshop along with Singapore on Tuesday, India joined East Asian nations in highlighting the dangers posed by Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing.

The East Asia Summit (EAS) Workshop on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing saw India's representative make a compelling case to combat the illegal practice, according to information provided by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying.

In his inaugural address, Secretary, Department of Fisheries (DoF), Government of India, Jatindra Nath Swain, also shared some of India’s efforts and initiatives to combat the same by means of working with coastal fishing communities.

In his opening remarks to the EAS IUU Workshop, the CEO of the Singapore Food Agency highlighted the importance of combating IUU fishing which has negatively impacted the livelihood and food security of the coastal fishing communities, the ministry said.

The workshop was organised by The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India and the Government of Singapore. It was co-chaired by India and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA)

During the session, Joint Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Goverment of India, J Balaji introduced the theme of the workshop and welcomed all the esteemed delegates, panelists and participants in the Workshop from Australia, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea along with India and Singapore.

The event was attended by 8 EAS member countries, 4 knowledge partners, officials of Department of Fisheries, the Government of India along with Fisheries officials of different States/UTs, said the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying

The knowledge partners, namely, the Bay of Bengal Programme Inter-Governmental Organization (BOBPIGO), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) further shared the regional efforts and the groundbreaking and continuous efforts being taken to combat IUU fishing.

As part of the Technical Session, representatives from each participating country shared their national success stories, experience gained and measures being taken up by the respective country to curb Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing.