The overall objective of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) is to support public authorities of coastal states to improve their own systems for collating and publishing information on the fisheries sector online in a complete and accessible manner. At the heart of the initiative is the FiTI Standard, which describes what information on marine fisheries should be published online by public authorities. It is organized into 12 transparency requirements, each corresponding to a thematic area of fisheries management (e.g. ‘large-scale fisheries, fisheries law enforcement etc).
In order to implement the FiTI, a country’s National Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) must produce annual FiTI Reports that provide an assessment of the availability, accessibility and completeness of the information requested by the FiTI Standard. However, if national authorities are unable to publish information because they genuinely do not have it, the FiTI asks that the National MSG considers how these information gaps can be addressed and over what time frame. This is referred to in the FiTI Standard as achieving “progressive improvements”.
A FiTI Report is not just a means to verify if the country is compliant with the FiTI Standard – it is not simply a technical report to achieve compliant status for the county. Rather, it is the intention of the FiTI that these annual reports also achieve three main benefits for implementing countries:
A country’s National MSG must appoint a Report Compiler, tasked with compiling the information on the transparency requirements set forth in section B.1 of the FiTI Standard. The role of the Report Compiler is critical to the success of the FiTI at the national and international level. Their role is to work collaboratively with the National MSG and support them in fulfilling their duty of producing an annual FiTI Report in accordance with the FiTI Standard.
Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy
2nd Floor Maison Collet
Palm Street, Victoria, Mahé
P.O Box 408
Republic of Seychelles
+248 4672300
info@mofbe.gov.sc
View the website HERE!