International Board

The FiTI International Board is the global supervisory body of the initiative.

The FiTI International Board reflects a multi-stakeholder composition. In accordance with the constitution of the FiTI association, the FiTI International Board comprises of the FiTI Chair and 18 voting Board Members, equally distributed among full members from the three stakeholder groups:

• Government sector: a total of six individuals nominated by public sector institutions;

• Business sector: a total of six individuals nominated by private sector organisations, evenly distributed between industrial/large-scale and the small-scale/artisanal marine fisheries sector;

• Social sector: a total of six individuals nominated by organisations that serve society at large.

The FiTI International Board is presided and represented by its Chair, which does not count towards the total number of seats.

Representatives from intergovernmental organisations, regional development banks, development agencies, other relevant organisations, as well as individual experts may be invited by the FiTI International Board to attend FiTI Board meetings as observers.

Meetings of the FiTI International Board are regarded as general meetings of the members of the association.

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Responsibilities of the FiTI International Board

The FiTI International Board oversees the activities of the FiTI through regular Board meetings and Board Circulars, including:

• Assessing candidate applications of countries;
• Evaluating the performance of countries against the FiTI Standard based on validations;
• Establishing mechanisms to collect and address complaints, resolve disagreements, and act if countries are deemed non-compliant;
• Overseeing and guiding the work of the FiTI International Secretariat through annual workplans and bylaws;
• Appointing the Executive Director of the FiTI International Secretariat;
• Supporting the FiTI International Secretariat in outreach and fundraising activities;
• Agreeing on the arrangements for FiTI global conferences;
• Approving the annual budget, financial statement and audited reports of the FiTI;
• Electing new members of the FiTI, which serve as International Board members;
• Electing the FiTI Chair of the FiTI International Board;
• Enhancing the FiTI Standard over time;
• Promoting transparency and multi-stakeholder participation in marine fisheries governance; and
• Adhering to the FiTI Global Code of Conduct.

The members of the FiTI International Board, except for the FiTI Chair, do not receive remuneration in return for performing their board member duties.

The language of the FiTI International Board is English.

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Current members of the FiTI International Board

Chair

Name	Current term	No. of term(s)
Valeria Merino	01 January 2023 – 31 December 2025	2.

Representatives of the Government sector

Name	Role	Nominating organisation	Current term	No. of term(s)
Roy Clarisse	Principal Secretary, Fisheries	Ministry of Fisheries and the Blue Economy, Seychelles	01 January 2023 – 31 December 2025	1.
Joacim Johanneson	Programme Coordinator, Marine Spatial Planning Unit	Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management	01 January 2023 – 31 December 2025	1.
Annika Mackensen	Advisor Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture	Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany	23 May 2022 – 22 May 2025	1.
[VACANT]
[VACANT]
[VACANT]

Representatives of the Business sector

Name	Role	Nominating organisation	Current term	No. of term(s)
Keith Andre	President	Federation of the Fishers of the Indian Ocean (FPAOI)	01 January 2022 – 31 December 2024	1.
Hugh Govan	Consultant	Locally Managed Marine Area Network International (LMMA)	01 January 2022 – 31 December 2024	1.
Tony Lazazzara	Group Fisheries Sustainability Director	Thai Union Group	01 January 2023 – 31 December 2025	1.
Dawda Foday Saine	Secretary General	African Confederation of Professional Organizations of Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA)	01 January 2023 – 31 December 2025	1.
Alfredo Sfeir	Founder and CEO	Shellcatch Inc.	15 June 2022 – 14 June 2025	1.
[VACANT]

Representatives of the Social Sector

Name	Role	Nominating organisation	Current term	No. of term(s)
Zacari Edwards	Social Responsibility Director	International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF)	01 August 2023 – 31 July 2026	1.
Maisie Pigeon	Director, Global Fisheries Transparency Coalition	Oceana	01 January 2023 – 31 December 2025	1.
Ketakandriana Rafitoson	Executive Director, Transparency International Initiative Madagascar (TI-MG)	Transparency International (TI)	01 August 2023 – 31 July 2026	1.
Ahmed Senhoury	Executive Director	Regional Partnership for Coastal and Marine Conservation (PRCM)	01 January 2022 – 31 December 2024	2.
Umair Shahid	Indian Ocean Tuna Manager (Senior)	World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)	01 August 2023 – 31 July 2026	1.
Annie Tourette	Head of Advocacy	Blue Ventures	01 January 2023 – 31 December 2025	1.

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Observers

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, represented by Mr Marcio Castro de Souza, Senior Fishery Officer – International Trade

Open Government Partnership, represented by Ms Adna Karamehic-Oates, Lead Policy & Partnerships

The World Bank, represented by Mr Julien Million, Senior Fisheries Specialist – Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy

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Past Chairs and Board Members

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FiTI International Board meetings

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FiTI International Board Circulars

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Relevant posts

• 
  Call for 2024 membership election to the FiTI association15 July 2024
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  Senegal must finalise the mandatory sign-up steps of the FiTI Standard or face delisting from the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI)5 July 2024
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  FiTI International Board elects three new civil society representatives4 August 2023
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  FiTI Working Group initiates process of reviewing the FiTI Standard24 July 2023
• 
  FiTI International Board reappoints Sven Biermann as Executive Director5 July 2023
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  FiTI International Board elects seven new members for 2023-2025 term9 January 2023
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  FiTI International Board urges national authorities in Senegal to complete FiTI sign-up steps26 October 2022
• 
  Call for 2022 membership election to the FiTI association15 June 2022
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  FiTI International Board elects two new members and re-elects FiTI Chair for second term23 May 2022
• 
  FiTI International Board elects four new members14 January 2022
• 
  Open Government Partnership joins International Board of FiTI4 October 2021
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  Call for 2021 membership election to the FiTI association15 July 2021
• 
  FiTI Board approves indefinite suspension of annual country contributions29 April 2021
• 
  FiTI Board approves COVID-19 induced 3-year moratorium on annual contributions7 September 2020
• 
  Valeria Merino appointed as new Chair of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI)28 October 2019
• 
  FiTI Board takes key decisions for the way forward13 February 2019
• 
  2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Launching the first FiTI International Board12 May 2017