CTC in collaboration with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) facilitated a virtual meeting to develop a Fisheries Improvement Program (FIP) action plan for selected snapper species in Banda Islands, Maluku. This meeting also aimed to present highlighted pre-assessment results and findings done during the second quarter of 2020 and map out further assessments that will find out the best species for the FIP.

Attended by 26 participants coming from the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (MMAF), Maluku Provincial Government and other related stakeholders, the meeting was conducted online using the Zoom application on November 05, 2020. It was officially opened by Mr. Trian Yunanda from the MMAF Directorate General of Capture Fish. In his remarks, he said that MMAF would fully support the overall process of preparing the FIP action plan. On the other hand, he also expected a harmonious cooperation among all participating parties of this project.

The online meeting was crucial as it also presented recommendations from MSC regarding snapper fisheries improvement to be discussed by all participants. The discussion results would serve as follow-ups for the FIP action plan development process. Since the beginning, the overall action plan drafting process itself has involved many related key stakeholders, especially from the Maluku Provincial Government, as it will be eventually implemented in the Banda Islands.

Some important results from the pre-assessment activity, carried out by Bio Inspecta as the Conformity Assistant Body (CAB), included nine Performance Indicators (PIs) with score below 60 and seven PIs with score between 60 and 79. The pre-assessment also generated 11 recommendations to improve some PI scores that still have not met the MSC standard.

The end result of this virtual meeting was a mutual understanding among participants about the necessity to form a working group (Kelompok Kerja/Pokja) in the future. The Pokja team will focus on scoping and developing action plans together. The national government will legalize the Pokja, along with other groups in the fishery areas that are involved in the project of Fish for Good (FFG) Indonesia. Most participants of the meeting already had a good level of understanding regarding the FFG Project in Indonesia and were active in the discussion.