The twenty-eighth session of the Committee on Fisheries reviewed the issues of an international character and the FAO programme in fisheries and aquaculture and their implementation. The Committee supported the development of guidelines on best practices for the safety of seas and agreed that additional work should be carried out in relation to the Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fish Products from Inland Capture Fisheries. Also published in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.

The session was attended by 17 Members of the Commission as well as observers from other international organizations. The agenda also included the fourteenth session of the Information System for the Promotion of Aquaculture in the Mediterranean (SIPAM), which was organized concomitantly. During this session, the Committee reviewed the intersessional activities and outcomes of its subsidiary bodies. Moreover, the Committee discussed in particular key issues regarding coastal lagoons in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and agreed on the elaboration of draft guidelines for their sustainable management.

Conclusions of the 25th session of the Committee included: the need for a strategy to improve information on capture fisheries; reaffirmation of the need for global implementation of measures against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; the importance of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its related International Plans of Action (IPOAs) in promoting long-term sustainable development of fisheries; and identification of key priority work areas for 2004-05.