The Fishery Resources Monitoring System (FIRMS) is a partnership of intergovernmental fisheries organizations that share a wide range of high-quality information on the global monitoring and management of marine fishery resources.

Activities

• FIRMS draws together a unified partnership of international organizations, regional fishery bodies collaborating within a formal agreement to report and share information on fisheries resources.
• The Secretariat and system maintenance are part of the FAO Regular Programme (Food and Agriculture Organisation).
• It was established in February 2004 to respond to the need to achieve a sustainability of the fisheries and to provide relevant, reliable and up-to-date information on a global scale.
• FIRMS aims to provide decision-makers with the best and most authoritative information possible in order to develop effective fisheries policies in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

This code of conduct, adopted by FAO members on 31 October 1995, contains a broad set of principles and methods for developing and managing fisheries and aquaculture. A voluntary, non-binding instrument, the code is widely recognized as the global standard for settling out the aims of sustainable fisheries

Sustainable fisheries

Sustainability in fisheries combines theoretical disciplines, such as the population dynamics of fisheries, with practical strategies, such as avoiding overfishing through techniques such as individual fishing quotas, curtailing destructive and illegal fishing practices by lobbying for appropriate...

 and aquaculture for the coming decades.

• The information available in FIRMS is based on international protocols and data/metadata standards. It benefits also of functionalities from the Fisheries Global Information System (FIGIS) implemented by FAO.
• The information is presented in synthesized fact sheets and state of resource summaries which include images, maps of geographical distribution, general biological and habitat characteristics, scientific assessment results, management considerations and status and trends statements.

Partners

Currently, the FIRMS partnership is composed of 13 international organizations:

• Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
  Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
  The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, also Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and CCAMLR, is part of the Antarctic Treaty System...
  
   (CCAMLR)
• Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT)
• Statistical Office of the European Communities
  Eurostat
  Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide the European Union with statistical information at European level and to promote the integration of statistical methods across the Member States of the European Union,...
  
   (EUROSTAT)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  Food and Agriculture Organization
  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
  
   (FAO) - Fisheries Department
• General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM)
• Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
  Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission
  The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission is an international commission that is responsible for the conservation and management of tuna and other marine resources in the eastern Pacific Ocean.-History:The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission was created by the Convention for the...
  
   (IATTC)
• International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
  International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
  The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for the management and conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. The organization was established in 1969, at a conference in Rio de...
  
   (ICCAT)
• International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
  International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
  The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea is the world’s oldest intergovernmental science organization. ICES is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, where its multinational Secretariat staff of 51 provide scientific, administrative and secretarial support to the ICES community...
  
   (ICES)
• Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)
• Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
  Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
  The is an intergovernmental organization with a mandate to provide scientific advice and management of fisheries in the northwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean...
  
   (NAFO)
• North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC)
• Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center
  Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center
  The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center is an autonomous intergovernmental body established as a regional treaty organization in 1967 to promote fisheries development in Southeast Asia...
  
   (SEAFDEC)
• South East Atlantic Fisheries Organization
  South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation
  The South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation is an organization that maintains controls over fishing and fishing related acts is the Southeastern Atlantic Ocean.-Introduction:...
  
  (SEAFO)

The partners of FIRMS are committed to providing the best scientific evidence on the status and trends of fishery resources and fisheries.

External links

• FIRMS website.
• List of FIRMS partners.