Page 8 - FAO Aquaculture News, May 2021 - No. 63

Regional Consultation Workshops on the Development of a Global

Information System on Farmed Types of Aquatic Genetic Resources

and the “New Normal” of the Virtual Workshop Environment

Introduction
e have reported previously on a Regional Workshop for FARMED TYPE
Wthe African Region on the “Development of a global A descriptor of aquatic genetic resources below the
information system for farmed types of aquatic genetic level of the species. A farmed aquatic organism could
resources” held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in December be a strain (animals), variety (plants), hybrid, triploid,
2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This workshop monosex group, or other genetically altered form, or
wild type.
was intended to be the first of a series of regional face-to-
face workshops, a modality and working environment in
which FAO is well practiced. However, the pandemic arrived recognized the value of an information system as a tool Global Aquaculture Updates
and after originally postponing the planned workshops for characterizing and monitoring their genetic resources
we recognized that, if we were to move forward with the and identified the principal stakeholders who can provide
development of these important information resources in data to the system and utilize information from the system.
support of the improved management of aquatic genetic Participants also identified some constraints to data
resources (AqGR), we had to run the remaining workshops in collection, such as the capacity to provide information on
a virtual modality. Four such workshops were thus organized the production volume and value of farmed types rather
to ensure that we consulted fully with the remaining FAO than species, but overall they were broadly supportive of
regions, as follows: the scope of the information being collected.
– Asia and the Pacific (8–12 June 2020);
– Latin America and the Caribbean and North America The second part of the workshop focused on the Global Plan
(21–24 September 2020, in English and Spanish); of Action through working group sessions, which reviewed
– Europe and Central Asia (5–8 October 2020, in English the strategic priorities under four pre-agreed priority areas
and Russian); (see Figure 1). The working groups proposed some changes
– Near East and North Africa (abridged version, in the strategic priorities as they related to each region and
7–8 December 2020, in English and Arabic). provided potential actions and indicators under the priorities.
Some regional differences were identified in the workshops,
The last workshop for the Near East and North Africa was for example Europe and Central Asia identified recreational
an abridged two-day version of the programme added to the fishing associations as stakeholders in the information
calendar upon the request of the FAO subregional office. system, a sector not considered in the other regions.

The workshop outcomes After these workshops ended, some changes were made to
The objectives of these workshops were the same as for the questionnaire used for data collection. FAO is currently
the African regional workshop reported previously, aiming drafting the Global Plan of Action with the challenge being
to bring together national focal points on AqGR and other to effectively integrate the regional input provided across
relevant regional stakeholders to guide FAO in two major, these five workshops together with input provided by
ongoing areas of work for the promotion of the sustainable Members in writing.
use, conservation and development of AqGR in the
aquaculture sector. These FAO initiatives, being developed The workshop format
at the request of Members, are: (i) the development of an Twelve months into the pandemic many of us are now
information system for farmed types of AqGR; and (ii) the very familiar with the virtual meeting environment using
development of a draft Global Plan of Action for AqGR. one of the many available videoconferencing platforms.
In the first part of the workshop, delegates reviewed the However, back in the early months of the pandemic we
scope and structure of a Registry (the core of the prototype were very much “learning by doing”. This section of the
information system) and an associated online questionnaire article highlights some of the issues we encountered in
developed for entering farmed type data into the Registry, planning and implementing these semi-formal consultation
and provided regionally relevant feedback. Participants workshops, how we learned from some early mistakes and
improved the format over successive workshops, and what
we now know about the strengths and weaknesses of the
Written by: virtual workshop format. These learnings came from our
Graham Mair own experiences as organizers and from feedback from
Email: Graham.Mair@fao.org post-workshop surveys sent to participants.
Daniela Lucente
Email: Daniela.Lucente@fao.org
FAO Fisheries Division, Rome, Italy 1. FAO Aquaculture Newsletter No. 62, October 2020. p. 9
(also available here www.fao.org/3/cb1550en/CB1550EN.pdf).

FAO AQUACULTURE NEWS – Nº. 63 ■ MAY 2021 7