Coral Triangle Countries Adopt Common Framework to Address Transboundary Fisheries

The six Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) member states have developed a policy framework to address transboundary fisheries issues such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, live reef fish trade, overfishing, and bycatch of protected and endangered species. The common policy framework, developed through a series of regional exchanges supported by USAID’s US CTI Support Program, was finalized at a workshop held on May 22–25, 2012, in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

The framework will be discussed in-country for endorsement and presented at the next CTI Senior Officials Meeting later this year for formal adoption. It will support new legislation in all six countries to promote sustainable fisheries based on an ecosystem approach—an approach that considers fisheries management not from a single-species perspective but within the broader environmental and human context. The framework also aligns with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing and the CTI Regional Plan of Action. The CTI countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.