Maldives to co-champion action on fisheries for Commonwealth

New Delhi, Jan 5 : Maldives has stepped forward to co-champion the Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group on sustainable coastal fisheries alongside the current champion country, Kiribati, the Commonwealth Secretariat said on Tuesday.
The island-nation made the announcement at a virtual seminar, hosted by the Secretariat.
As a new co-champion, Maldives will work with Kiribati, as well as the other members of the action group, to develop strategies on the sustainable use of coastal marine resources across the Commonwealth, covering a third of the world’s national waters, including India.
Nearly 90 per cent of the world’s fisheries have been fully exploited, depleted, or are in a state of collapse, signalling a threat to food security, fishing-dependent livelihoods and marine eco-system.
Research has found that if the world’s fisheries were sustainably managed, they could provide six times more food than current levels while creating more than 12 million new jobs.
Against this backdrop, the purpose is to ramp up coordinated action and advocacy for a resilient coastal fisheries industry, which benefits both the present and future generations in the face of threats like climate change and overfishing.