FiTI launches public consultation for FiTI Standard 2.0

10 November 2025. The Fisheries Transparency Initiative announced today a 4-week public consultation phase, inviting stakeholders to provide feedback and comments to the draft of its updated FiTI Standard, version 2.0.

Several factors have influenced the FiTI International Board’s decision to revise the FiTI Standard. After a decade since the launch of the initiative, the landscape for transparency in fisheries has evolved significantly. New international agreements have raised the bar in terms of what information governments are expected to make public. So have stakeholder interests and demands. FiTI implementations in several countries as well as the FiTI’s TAKING STOCK transparency assessments have also produced significant learnings and improvement opportunities.

The updated FiTI Standard 2.0 is the outcome of a two-year collaboration between the FiTI International Secretariat, the FiTI International Board, lessons learned from FiTI implementations in several countries, as well as input from international fisheries and governance experts from governments, business, and civil society.

Strengthening the cornerstones of the FiTI Standard

Since its inception in April 2017, the FiTI Standard has demonstrated its effectiveness and has become the global default framework for transparency in national marine fisheries management. The FiTI Standard 2.0 continues to build on and further strengthens this strong foundation. For example, the FiTI’s principle of progressive improvement (i.e. countries are not expected to have complete data for every transparency requirement of the FiTI Standard from the beginning; instead, national authorities must disclose the information they have, and where important gaps exist, improvements over time must be demonstrated) is much more clearly emphasised and explained in the updated version through its own dedicated section (Part II, section E).

Furthermore, FiTI Standard 2.0 gives greater prominence to National Multi-Stakeholder Groups (MSGs) by addressing the shortcoming of the current Standard 1.1 regarding a clear separation between the role and responsibilities of the national authorities and the responsibilities of National MSGs. The draft FiTI Standard 2.0 now comprises three main parts, which will help national stakeholders to identify their relevant sections more easily: Part I for national authorities, Part II for National MSGs, and Part III for the international governance.

Improving the implementation process

The draft FiTI Standard 2.0 incorporates several significant improvements regarding the implementation process, providing a clear direction to countries that are either already implementing the Standard or would like to be part of this initiative, such as:

• Encouraging countries to use existing multi-stakeholder platforms for its implementation, if such platforms meet core collaboration requirements as described in the FiTI Standard.

• Reducing the time and effort for the annual reporting process by offering more comprehensive support to National MSGs from the FiTI International Secretariat.

• Improving the validation process, as countries need to undergo only one comprehensive compliance validation. Afterwards, compliance reviews will be conducted every three years to ensure ongoing adherence with this status. This reduces the reporting requirements for FiTI Compliant Countries, while at the same time continues to safeguard the integrity of the FiTI.

Enhancing the transparency requirements

The draft FiTI Standard 2.0 includes a revised list of transparency requirements for national authorities. A careful balancing act has informed the thinking behind this. While the updated Standard increases transparency demands on national authorities to keep pace with international developments, it has been approached with caution to avoid overburdening countries. The result is a revised list of transparency requirements that builds on those contained in the first Standard, but with improvements to ensure the FiTI’s relevance and impact are strengthened on the national and international level, including:

• Publishing succinct information on national objectives for fisheries, such as environmental, social, economic, climate or food security goals, and explaining how achieving these can be measured.

• Aligning the FiTI Standard 2.0 transparency requirements to international agreements, including the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, or the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

• Strengthening transparency requirements on the fiscal management of fisheries, in particular on how much public revenue is being generated, how it is used, and what public financial resources are allocated to fisheries management and development.

• Enhancing the information on the characteristics and catches of non-commercial fishing sectors – in addition to commercial fishing sectors – reflecting the substantial numbers of people engaged in non-commercial fishing and the resulting impacts on the health of fish populations and other fishing interests.

• Elevating further the importance of information related to small-scale fisheries, addressing the often-persisting lack of clarity on how the concept of small-scale fisheries is interpreted and how these are supported and further advanced.

More information about the FiTI Standard and the proposed changes for version 2.0 can be found in the introduction part of the Standard, as provided below.

The FiTI is now inviting all interest stakeholders to review the updated draft version of FiTI Standard 2.0 and provide their feedback, comments or questions to the FiTI International Secretariat. Responses should be sent no later than Friday, 5 December 2025 to the following email: info@fiti.global.

The draft FiTI Standard 2.0 is available for download in the following four languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese.

After conclusion of the public consultation phase, the FiTI International Board will review the received comments and make a final decision on the FiTI Standard 2.0. It is anticipated that the FiTI Standard 2.0 will come into effect in January 2026.