The Committee examined its work since the First Session, undertook an appraisal of FAO's fisheries research-related programmes and elaborated the Committee's work for the intersessional period (1999-2000).

The FAO Advisory Committee on Fisheries Research (ACFR) held its Third Session in Rome, from 5 to 8 December 2000. The Committee examined its work since the First Session, undertook an appraisal of FAO's fisheries research-related programmes and elaborated the Committee's work for the intersessional period (2000-2002). The Committee emphasized the importance of establishing an international Plan of Action for Status and Trends Reporting in Fisheries as a means of enhancing its capacity to advise the Director-General and the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) with regard to the most up-to-date and accurate view of the prospects for maintaining or enhancing fish production.

The session agreed on a vision statement and on a characterization of small-scale fisheries as well as on a research agenda of five main themes. It elaborated preliminary drafts of two separate technical documents on the contribution, role and importance of small-scale fisheries and research agenda for small-scale fisheries and requested that the documents be submitted, after finalization by the Secretariat, to the ACFR at its next session

The Committee examined its work since the First Session, undertook an appraisal of FAO's fisheries research-related programmes and elaborated the Committee's work for the intersessional period (1999-2000).

The objectives of the meeting were to: (i) share experience and knowledge on this subject; (ii) identify clearly how the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries could serve as a tool in poverty alleviation in fishing communities; (iii) identify critical knowledge gaps and research needs; and (iv) elaborate a project framework and research methodologies.

Ecosystems are complex and dynamic natural units that produce goods and services beyond those of benefit to fisheries. Because fisheries have a direct impact on the ecosystem, which is also impacted by other human activities, they need to be managed in an ecosystem context. The meaning of the terms "ecosystem management", "ecosystem-based management", "ecosystem approach to fisheries" (EAF), etc., are still not universally defined and progressively evolving. The justification of EAF is evident in the characteristics of an exploited ecosystem and the impacts resulting from fisheries and other activities. The rich set of international agreements of relevance to EAF contains a large number of principles and conceptual objectives. Both provide a fundamental guidance and a significant challenge for the implementation of EAF. The available international instruments also provide the institutional foundations for EAF. The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries is particularly important in this respect and contains provisions for practically all aspects of the approach. One major difficulty in defining EAF lies precisely in turning the available concepts and principles into operational objectives from which an EAF management plan would more easily be developed. The paper discusses these together with the types of action needed to achieve them. Experience in EAF implementation is still limited but some issues are already apparent,e.g. in added complexity, insufficient capacity, slow implementation, need for a pragmatic approach, etc. It is argued, in conclusion, that the future of EAF and fisheries depends on the way in which the two fundamental concepts of fisheries management and ecosystem management, and their respective stakeholders, will join efforts or collide.

The Contribution of International Fisheries Law to Human Development: An Analysis of Multilateral and ACP-EU Fisheries Instruments examines whether and how legal fisheries instruments encompass a normative consensus on human development. Focusing on both multilateral (treaties and soft-law) as well as the ACP-EU bilateral fisheries instruments, Nienke van der Burgt provides a detailed analysis as to whether these different types of legal instruments reflect the principles of equity, poverty eradication and participation, which have been identified as key indicators of human development. Moreover, specific attention is paid to whether explicit reference is made to the small-scale fisheries sector and to the role of women. Concluding that despite increasing evidence of the potential and significant contribution of fisheries towards human development, legal fisheries instruments seem to be struggling with the incorporation of a human development centred approach, The Contribution of International Fisheries Law to Human Development, is essential reading for all those involved in the fields of international environmental law and sustainable human development.