Study tour and workshop for high level partners
This week, the UNU-FTP concluded a study tour and parallel workshop for high-level partners. In total, 13 high level representatives from a collection of ministries, research centers, and regional governing organizations joined the 10 day study tour in Iceland. The overall aims of the study tour were to expose key UNU-FTP partners to the type of education and training they can expect fellows to receive in the six month training, and to stimulate constructive conversation around main challenges facing global fisheries development and how we can work together in a more constructive way to solve them through policy.
Through lectures, site visits, and group work, study tour participants tackled a wide range of issues facing fisheries development today including: data collection and management, user rights, monitoring control and surveillance, marketing export and logistics, food safety and traceability, byproduct utilization, research-based policy, and creating sustainable aquaculture systems.
One overarching theme of the study tour was the connection between research, industry, and the process of policy making. We are grateful to all the individuals, research firms, and companies who opened their doors to us this past week and a half. Each is part of a complex and evolving system which allowed Iceland to develop in socio-economic terms through fisheries.
In the workshop, participants shared information about their own fisheries challenges and development potential. The final day of the program was devoted to a reflection on the issues raised during the tour and potential implications for the work participants do at home. From these discussions, the UNU-FTP is now drafting an outcome document with the aim to inform further collaboration and facilitate global discussion on issues of fisheries development. We hope that the results of this study tour and parallel workshop will increase the speed of policy uptake of the research produced by our fellows in the UNU-FTP six month training.
Thank you to all the participants, lecturers, and organizations who worked together to make this study tour a success.