FiTI International Board elects six new members for 2025-2027 term
7 January 2025. The International Board of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) is extremely pleased to welcome five new members: Dr Estelle JONES, Dr Rocío PARRA, Mr Néstor ROCHE, Dr Daniel SKERRITT, and Mr Carlos Eduardo (Cadu) VILLAÇA. Furthermore, Dr Hugh GOVAN, who already served a first term, has been re-elected to serve a second, 3-year term.
The International Board is the global supervisory body of the FiTI. The FiTI is a global non-profit and non-governmental organization incorporated under Seychellois law. Its programmatic work is carried out by its International Secretariat. The sole responsibility of members of the association is to serve in the FiTI International Board.
The FiTI is a collaborative effort comprised of government, business, and civil society representatives. Their diverse interests, experiences, networks, and resources are fundamental to pursuing transparency in the fishing sector and supporting the sustainability of marine fisheries.
The FiTI International Board approved the procedure to elect new Board Members in 2024. Prospective Board Members were nominated by entities from the government, business (large-scale and small-scale fisheries), or social sectors interested in enhancing transparency and multi-stakeholder participation in fisheries, good ocean governance, open government, and access to information. The FiTI International Board approved the election of the following members for a period of three years:
- Dr Hugh GOVAN, initially nominated by Locally Managed Marine Area Network International (LMMA Network); stakeholder group: Business sector – Small-scale fisheries; second-term election.
- Dr Estelle JONES, nominated by the Government of the United Kingdom (The Centre of Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS)); stakeholder group: Government sector; first-term election.
- Dr Rocío PARRA CORTES, nominated by the Government of Chile (Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture); stakeholder group: Government sector; first-term election.
- Mr Néstor ROCHE, nominated by Latin American Union of Artisanal Fishing (ULAPA); stakeholder group: Business sector – Small-scale fisheries; first-term election.
- Dr Daniel SKERRITT, nominated by Oceana; stakeholder group: Social sector; first-term election.
- Mr Carlos Eduardo (Cadu) VILLAÇA, nominated by the Latin American Alliance for Sustainable Fisheries and Food Security (ALPESCAS); stakeholder group: Business sector – Large-scale fisheries; first-term election.
Dr Valeria Merino, Chair of the FiTI International Board, stated, “The FiTI is delighted to increasingly attract world-class leaders with extensive experience in marine fisheries policy, governance, management, and conservation to its Board. The Board Members we welcome today represent some of the best examples of individuals from the government, the large-scale and small-scale fishing sector, and civil society committed to making transparency in the marine fishing sector the new normal. All of them have several decades of experience in fisheries and have dedicated their professional lives to ensuring that marine fisheries keep contributing to the global, national, and local economies, to food security and nutrition, to allow countless local fishing communities to continue maintaining their livelihoods and traditions and to marine fisheries serve their critical ecological functions. All our board members are acutely aware of the challenges confronting this sector. Overfishing, inappropriate management, corruption, crime, lack of information, and existential threats such as climate change loom large over the industry. Our Board is certain that governments producing and publicly sharing relevant information and enhancing multi-stakeholder participatory governance are some of the right antidotes. With our new Board members’ support, invaluable contributions, and unwavering commitment, we at the FiTI will continue to work tirelessly to engage more countries and expand and deepen the implementation of the FiTI Standard, the only globally recognized fisheries transparency standard. We invite those interested in this work to join and support us.”