The South China Sea, covering 3.5 million sq.km, stands as a reservoir of rich marine biodiversity and contributes significantly to the socio-economic well-being of the region. However, the decline in fisheries and marine resources in recent years threatens the region’s contribution to the global economy. Recognizing this urgency, the SCS-REX aims to initiate a dialogue among stakeholders to lay the foundation for urgent collaboration and action.
The SCS-REX aims to achieve several objectives, including strengthening information exchange, sharing recent assessments, identifying priority needs, advancing collaborative fisheries management, and enhancing technical capacity in the SCS region.
Discussions will delve into the status of fisheries, supporting marine ecosystems, threats and opportunities, impacts of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and distant water fleet operations, the role of small-scale fisheries, and taking an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management as a central mechanism on fisheries governance.
The SCS-REX itself will run from January 16 to January 18, 2024. Following the exchange, a one-day post-REX training/workshop is scheduled on January 19, 2024.
