The 4-day Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM)

Implementation Planning Meeting was the first multi-national meeting in the Coral Triangle (CT)

region aimed at developing operational plans to implement transboundary EAFM. The meeting

was supported by the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security

(CTI-CFF) and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Regional Development Mission

for Asia (USAID RMDA), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and GIZ, and was facilitated

primarily by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The participants defined a Fisheries Management Unit that covers the transboundary area of the

Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, the participants

applied the EAFM planning process to develop a draft EAFM plan that identified a common

vision to address prioritized issues in the Fisheries Management Unit. Meeting participants

included senior officers, and monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) leads from the

fisheries ministries of the Philippines and Indonesia; representatives from the CTI-CFF Regional

Secretariat, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), international nongovernmental

conservation organizations (World Wildlife Fund and Conservation

International), and funding and development agencies (USAID RDMA, Asian Development Bank

(ADB), Project RETA 7813ADB, and GIZ).