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| Latin American Organization for Fisheries Development (OLDEPESCA) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Latin American Organization for Fisheries Development (OLDEPESCA) |
| Native name | Organización Latinoamericana de Desarrollo Pesquero |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Headquarters | San José, Costa Rica |
| Region served | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| Membership | Member States of the Latin American and Caribbean region |
| Languages | Spanish, English, Portuguese |
| Leader title | Executive Secretary |
Latin American Organization for Fisheries Development (OLDEPESCA) is an intergovernmental organization established to coordinate fisheries and aquaculture development policies across Latin America and the Caribbean. It was founded under the initiative of regional states seeking technical cooperation after consultations involving the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Organization of American States. OLDEPESCA acts as a forum linking national institutions such as the Ministry of Agriculture (Costa Rica), the Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Mexico), and regional bodies including the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the Caribbean Community.
OLDEPESCA was created in 1973 following ministerial talks inspired by outcomes from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972), with founding input from delegations representing Costa Rica, Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Early cooperation drew technical assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization and project financing from the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme, while academic partners such as the University of Havana and the National Autonomous University of Mexico contributed research. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s OLDEPESCA engaged with trade negotiations involving the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and later the World Trade Organization, and coordinated regional responses to environmental incidents like the Exxon Valdez oil spill and initiatives catalyzed by the Convention on Biological Diversity. In the 21st century OLDEPESCA expanded ties with multilateral actors including the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.
OLDEPESCA's mandate emphasizes sustainable fisheries and aquaculture development, regional food security, and the enhancement of small-scale fishing communities through policy harmonization with instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and commitments aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. Specific objectives include promoting scientific research in collaboration with institutions like the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, building technical capacity linked to the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and fostering market access through coordination with entities such as the World Trade Organization and the Caribbean Export Development Agency.
Membership comprises sovereign states from Latin America and the Caribbean that ratified the OLDEPESCA agreement, including founding members like Costa Rica, Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador as well as later entrants such as Peru, Chile, and Dominican Republic. Governance structures include the Assembly of Ministers modeled after assemblies in organizations like the Organization of American States and executive functions administered by an Executive Secretariat analogous to secretariats of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Decision-making interacts with national authorities including the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Mexico), the National Fisheries Institute (Peru), and regional commissions such as the Regional Fisheries Body networks.
OLDEPESCA administers technical cooperation programs in fisheries resource assessment with partners like the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, capacity-building initiatives with the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank, and pilot projects in aquaculture linked to research centers including the Centro de Investigaciones Oceanográficas de la Universidad de Costa Rica. It runs workshops convening stakeholders from small-scale fisheries organizations, coastal municipalities like San José, Costa Rica and Valparaíso, Chile, and civil society actors such as Oxfam and the World Wildlife Fund. OLDEPESCA also facilitates data-sharing platforms interoperable with systems maintained by the Global Ocean Observing System and coordinates emergency responses in collaboration with the International Maritime Organization.
OLDEPESCA engages in multilateral cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Bank, and liaises with regional blocs including the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States and the Andean Community. It participates in international fora such as meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and technical panels of the World Trade Organization relating to fisheries subsidies, while negotiating bilateral and trilateral agreements with partners like the European Union, the United States, and Japan for research, trade, and market access.
OLDEPESCA's budget derives from member state contributions modeled on scales similar to dues in the Organization of American States, project grants from the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the European Commission, and technical cooperation financed by the Food and Agriculture Organization and bilateral donors such as Japan International Cooperation Agency and Government of Spain. Project-specific funding supports joint initiatives with the Global Environment Facility and private philanthropy from foundations like the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Packard Foundation.
OLDEPESCA has been credited with improving regional coordination on stock assessments involving species monitored by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and enhancing policy dialogue across capitals such as Lima, Quito, and San José. Critics drawn from think tanks like the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and NGOs such as Greenpeace argue that OLDEPESCA's outcomes are constrained by limited funding, variable political will among members, and challenges aligning national regulatory frameworks like those of Chile and Peru with supranational goals. Academic evaluations from institutions including the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of the West Indies note successes in capacity building but call for stronger monitoring comparable to regimes under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Category:Intergovernmental organizations Category:Fisheries organizations Category:Organizations established in 1973