- 5 -
It will be noted that none of Nation to become a member was Nepal in 1980.
a re members. Another significant gap in the the Pacific island nations membership is China. However, the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) at its Eighteenth Session in 1989 noted with satisfaction the announcement by China of its interest in joining IPFC.
20.
a
bodies of IPFC,
is membership
either subsidiary the In regard to
as in the case of the Executive Committee, specified in the Agreement
in the specified by the Commission generally at the time of establishment as case of the three Committees or determined by the Director-General of FAO for as in the case of the three Working Parties. two-year term of office Membership of the Special Committee on Management of Indo-Pacific Tuna and SCORRAD is open to all members of the Commission while membership in CDMSCS is open only to those members which are coastal states in the South China Sea and adjacent waters. So far, the members of IPFC which have actively participated in the work of this Committee have been Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, The members of the Working Thailand and the United Kingdom (Hong Kong). Parties are individual experts who serve in their personal capacities and not as representatives of their governments.
Functions and Responsibilities
IPFC
set out in Article IV of 21.
The functions and responsibilities of IPFC are the Agreement and are targeted at the full and proper utilization of living aquatic resources by the
by the development and management of fishing and culture and
the by operations
development activities in conformity with the objectives of its Members. reproduced in full in IPFC/90/Inf.12 (pp. 3/4).
of
related
processing and
marketing They are
22. The entirety of Article IV in its present form was adopted by the Commission at its Seventeenth Session in 1976 and constituted a combination of a formál proposal by the Ad hoc Committee and the format adopted around that time by the General Fisheries Council for the Mediterranean (GFCM) to increase its effectiveness as a fishery management and development body.
measures,
23. The functions of the IPFC are essentially advisory in nature and as stated in its Rules of Procedure, it may only make recommendations for action At its by Members on any matters pertaining to its functions (Rule XIII). Twenty-first Session in 1984 the question of adopting the procedure of subject to the binding
embodying recommendations
management "objection procedure" followed in the case of other regional fishery bodies, was considered by the Commission. It was decided that the adoption of this on which management procedure was premature in the absence of reliable data measures needed to be based. It was agreed that the question could be taken up at a later session once the pre-requisite of reliable data had been met.
24. It
as
would appear that in the absence of budgetary arrangements such those broached in 1975 and 1978 and referred to in paragraph 6 above, the IPFC is handicapped in carrying out certain of these functions e.g. carrying out of programmes or projects in (b) or undertaking training and extension activities. in (e), ΟΙ and research (a)
undertaking publishing information in (f).
in
or
development
activities