Day 3 information | Honiara Summit

Thursday 27 February 2025

Session 7: Supporting fisheries sustainability through implementation of international instruments. (Coordinator: FAO)

Panel 7.1: Integrating international instruments for sustainable fisheries

Dr Pio Manoa
Deputy Director General, Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA)

Pio E. Manoa specialises in international legal matters, including oceans, fisheries, and the Law of the Sea. He has previously served as a legal officer with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, legal adviser and legal counsel to the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), and a lecturer with the University of the South Pacific. In his different roles, he has advised governments, assisted with the preparation of fisheries and related legislation in different regions, and provided technical support in the negotiation of multilateral treaties. He currently serves as the Deputy Director-General for the FFA.

Facilitator

Amb. Santiago Wills
Director of the Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO)

Amb. Santiago Wills is the Director of the Council and Trade Negotiations Committee Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO), responsible for the Governing Bodies of the WTO, namely the Ministerial Conference, the General Council, the Dispute Settlement Body, and the Trade Negotiations Committee. He previously served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the WTO and Alternate Permanent Representative to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In that capacity he was appointed as Chair of the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules, which included the Fisheries Subsidies negotiations that were brought to a multilateral agreement under his Chairmanship in June 2022. He also served as Member of the Management Board of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) and as Co-Chair of the OECD Committee on Fisheries. Before joining the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the WTO, he served as Director of International Trade and Investment Protection at a highly recognized law firm in Colombia and held different public sector positions. Amb. Wills has served for the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Counsellor at the Colombian Embassy before Canada; and for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, as Adviser to the Deputy Minister of Trade. For over a decade, Amb. Wills has been lecturer on WTO Law, International Trade, and international dispute settlement mechanisms at various Universities, and has published several academic articles on such topics, as well as numerous media articles. Amb. Wills holds a Law degree from Los Andes University (Bogota, Colombia) and two Masters Degrees on International Economic Law from the University of Barcelona.

Michele Ameri
Legal Officer in the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs

Michele Ameri is currently as Legal Officer in the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs in New York. He works on a variety of matters relating to oceans and the law of the sea, with particular focus on sustainable fisheries, maritime security, biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction and capacity-building. With regard to sustainable fisheries, he serves as Secretary of the Informal Consultations of States Parties to the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and Secretary of the informal consultations on the draft General Assembly resolution on sustainable fisheries. Prior to joining DOALOS, he worked for the Codification Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs on a variety of public international law issues addressed by the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly and its sub-bodies, including the International Law Commission. He also spent nine months with the United Nations Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. Mr. Ameri has a J.D. and LL.M from New York University School of Law and is admitted to the New York Bar.

Dr Vera Agostini
Deputy Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division at the United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Dr Vera Agostini is the Deputy Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division at the United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where she provides oversight, strategic leadership and technical support. From 2007-2017 Vera was with The Nature Conservancy, initially as Senior Scientist with the Global Oceans Team, and then as Director of Conservation and Director of Climate Adaptation. Dr. Agostini is a fisheries scientist by training, who has held positions across three sectors (non-governmental, government, and academia/educational) providing technical and strategic leadership across a range of multi-disciplinary efforts around the globe. Her experience ranges from comprehensive ecosystem research to broad policy and planning. She has provided technical and strategic leadership across a range of multi-disciplinary efforts and worked with coastal communities and artisanal fishers around the globe. Areas of focus include biodiversity mainstreaming in the fisheries sector, marine spatial planning and protected area network design, ecosystem based climate adaptation and disaster risk management, ecosystem approaches to fisheries, ecosystem services in pelagic environments, social resilience and small scale fisheries.

Panel 7.2: From Global frameworks to regional and national actions

Hon. Dalton Tagelagi
Prime Minister of Niue

Keynote

The Hon Dalton Tagelagi was elected premier by the Niue Legislative Assembly on 11 June 2020. Hon. Tagelagi was re-elected for his fifth term in 2020 by his constituent and elected by the Niue Assembly as the 6th Premier of Niue. He is the Chairman of Cabinet and Minister for Central Agencies and Commercial Agencies. He is the son of the late Hon. Sam Pata Emani Tagelagi who served as Speaker of the Niue Legislative Assembly from 1972 to 1996. Hon. Tagelagi was educated locally and attended Halamahaga Primary School and Niue High School. He is a sports enthusiast and an active participant in all sporting activities. He represented Niue at the Commonwealth Games, Arafura Games, Mini Games, Pacific Games, managed representative sports teams and became a medalist in the Lawn Bowls Triple at the Samoa Pacific Games 2019.

Alice McDonald
Senior Fishery Officer, at FAO, and is the Secretary of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and the Secretary of the Regional Fishery Body Secretariats Network

Facilitator

Alice McDonald is a Senior Fishery Officer, at FAO, and is the Secretary of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and the Secretary of the Regional Fishery Body Secretariats Network. Previously she was with the Australian Government, establishing the Climate Adaptation Program for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, which instituted a number of actions to incorporate climate impacts into adaptive fisheries management. Prior to this she spent a decade working with fisheries in the Pacific, including 6 years with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency where she supported Pacific countries to implement national, regional and multi-jurisdictional management of Pacific tuna fisheries. She has also supported delegations participating in regional fisheries management organisations in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, and has worked in fisheries management, data and marine conservation in a number of South East Asian countries. Alice has also worked in fisheries management and policy roles at State level in Australia, holds an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology and a Masters degree in environmental policy.

Masanori Kobayashi, Program Director, Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF)

Mr. Masanori Kobayashi is Program Director of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF) in Tokyo, Japan. He was Senior Research Fellow, Ocean Policy Research Institute (OPRI) of the SPF till June 2024. He continues to undertake research work on ocean and sustainability policy including sustainable blue economies, marine environment and resource management, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution control, ocean based renewable energies, and regional and international cooperation and partnership. He worked on sustainability issues at the Ocean Policy Research Foundation, the Yokohama National University, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, the United Nations (New York, Geneva and Bonn) and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Charlina Vitcheva
Director-General – DG MARE, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Mrs Charlina Vitcheva was appointed Director General of DG MARE, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in June 2020. Prior to this, she became Deputy Director General of the Joint Research Center (JRC) in September 2016. She was acting DG for the JRC from the 1st November 2019 to the 30th April 2020. Previously, Mrs Vitcheva have been Director of Smart & Sustainable Growth in Southern Europe at DG Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), and also held a Director’s position on Inclusive Growth, Territorial and Urban Development and Northern Europe. Before joining the European Commission, Charlina Vitcheva has been active in the Bulgarian public administration for 15 years, including at the Permanent Representation in Brussels, being actively involved in the negotiations of Bulgaria accession to the European Union, notably in charge of agricultural and fisheries dossiers and heading the negotiations, from 2000 to 2004, in the area of agriculture and rural development, food safety and fisheries

Dr Paul de Bruyn
Executive Secretary at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) secretariat

Dr Paul de Bruyn is the Executive Secretary at the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) secretariat, a position he has held since July 2023 having previously been Science Manager since 2018. He started his career assessing small-scale fisheries and developing operational management procedures for invertebrate fisheries on the East Coast of South Africa. He then moved to Spain, where he joined the Basque research foundation AZTI Tecnalia and was responsible for carrying out assessments for tuna and tuna-like species at both IOTC and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as well as advancing management strategy evaluations for temperate tuna stocks in the Atlantic Ocean. He later joined the ICCAT secretariat where for six years he was the By-catch Coordinator and later head of the Department of Research and Statistics. Paul holds a Doctorate in Marine Science with a focus on stock assessment and management strategy evaluation.

Session 8: Strengthening Partnerships to Implement SDG14.4. (Coordinator: UNSG Special Envoy)

Panel 8.1: Forging stronger partnership within the fisheries sector for the common good

H.E. Surangel Whipps
President of Palau

Keynote

Surangel Whipps, Jr. is the 10th President of the Republic of Palau. Hon. Whipps is a two-term senator having served in the 8th and 9th Olbiil Era Kelulau (OEK, Palau National Congress) from 2009 through 2016, when he first ran for the presidency. Hon. Whipps brings to the leadership role over 30 years of experience managing one of the largest growing company in Palau. As CEO and president of the Surangel and Sons Company, he led its expansion from a one floor store with 50 employees to a diversified company employing over six-hundred people. His experience is combined with his formal background earning a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in economics from Andrews University in Michigan and an MBA from Anderson Graduate School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Dr Vera Agostini
Deputy Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division at the United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Facilitator

H.E. Barbara Plinkert
Ambassador of the European Union to the Pacific

H.E. Barbara Plinkert has started her term as Ambassador of the European Union to the Pacific on 1st September 2023. Prior to this, she held the position of Head of Division for Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the European External Action Service from September 2021 to August 2023. Before that, she served as Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Singapore (September 2017 to August 2021). Ahead of her assignment in Singapore, Ambassador Plinkert was Head of Division responsible for Headquarters Security and EEAS Security Policy at the EEAS in Brussels. Before that, she served in various positions in different parts of the world. She has held key positions within the EU with postings in Zimbabwe, Tajikstan and Kazakhstan. From 2011-2015, she was based in Addis Ababa as Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Ethiopia. Between 1998 and 2003, her work for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime took her to Afghanistan. Ambassador Plinkert speaks English, German, French and Chinese. She holds a Masters of Arts degree in Sinology, Southeast Asian studies and Linguistics from Free University of Berlin.

Darius Campbell, North East Atlantic Fishery Commission - 3rd SOI Global Dialogue - 27Oct2

Dr Darius Campbell
Secretary of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission

Dr. Darius Campbell is the Secretary of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, taking up this role in 2017. Before this, Darius was the Executive Secretary for the OSPAR Commission, a Regional Seas Convention aiming to protect and conserve the North-East Atlantic and its resources. Previously Darius worked for the UK’s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs as a Deputy Director responsible for issues including IUU fisheries, developing the National Climate Change Adaptation Programme, UK policy on marine environment, and international oceans governance issues. Before joining the UK Civil Service, Darius worked in international rural development in Jordan, Nigeria and India. His first degree was in zoology, followed by an MSc in Livestock production and a PhD in nomadic livestock systems in Nigeria.

Dr Tom Pickerill
World Resources Institute

Dr Tom Pickerell is a marine biologist with over 20 years’ experience in ocean sustainability, including fisheries and aquaculture, climate change impacts and policy development. Tom is the Global Director of the Ocean Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI), and Head of the Secretariat for the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy.

David Carter
CEO, Austral Fisheries, Australia

David Carter has worked his entire career at Austral Fisheries and its predecessors. After graduating from Melbourne University in 1978 with a Marine Science degree, David’s first job was as a Deckhand on a prawn trawler off the coast of Darwin. This was the beginning of what has been a 46-year career in the fishing industry. David has been CEO of Austral Fisheries since 2007 and has a strong commitment to sustainable, science-based fisheries management. He has helped numerous fisheries achieve sustainability certifications with the Marine Stewardship Council; campaigned and battled against Patagonian toothfish poachers to completely eradicate them from Australian toothfish fisheries; collaborated with NGOs such as WWF to improve global seafood sustainability standards, and in 2016, led Austral Fisheries to become the first carbon neutral seafood company in the world. David was inducted into the National Seafood Industry Hall of Fame in 2012, and in 2020 he received the Marine Stewardship Council’s Lifetime Achievement award.

Panel 8.2: Getting the balance right: messaging UNOC3 on SDG14.4

Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen, Former Director-General, FFA

Facilitator

Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen, RSN Co-Chair and former Director-General of FFA Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen served as the FFA Director-General from November 2018-November 2024. Prior to this, she was the head of FFA Legal Services for over a decade. She is the Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific: Regional Campuses and Global Engagement, co-Chair of the Regional Fisheries Secretariat Bodies Network (RSN), fisheries consultant and is on the Board of Trustees for the newly established Pacific Academy of Sciences. She holds a Master of Laws (First Class Honours) from the University of Canterbury, and a PhD from the University of Nottingham where she held a Commonwealth scholarship. She is a citizen of Tonga.

Masanori Kobayashi, Program Director, Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF)

Dr Elizabeth McLeod
The Nature Conservancy’s Global Ocean Director

Dr. Lizzie McLeod is The Nature Conservancy’s Global Ocean Director. Lizzie serves as the organization’s champion for ocean conservation, including TNC’s work to protect, manage and restore marine ecosystems, support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, and mitigate and adapt to climate change through blue carbon and other nature-based solutions. Lizzie is an internationally recognized ocean expert and communicator who contributes to global ocean and climate think tanks, serves on multiple scientific panels and leads key engagements at global biodiversity and climate policy events. During her career, Lizzie has lived and worked in Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean and the United States, providing scientific and strategic guidance to field teams in more than 40 countries. She has led strategies to reduce the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems and coastal communities, elevate women’s leadership in climate and biodiversity policy and practice, and develop tools to improve marine protection and management. She has also led research and trainings for the global Reef Resilience Network that has helped over 50,000 marine managers around the world to better manage coral reefs.

Alfredo Giron, Head of Ocean Action, World Economic Forum

Alfredo is Head of the World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action. He has wide experience spearheading the creation of public-private partnerships to address pressing ocean challenges related to marine conservation and restoration, sustainable fisheries management, scaling up ocean innovation, and accelerating the transition of industries towards nature-positive practices for the blue economy. His work has contributed to strengthening the role of science and technology in marine policy and business practices in several countries and to influence intergovernmental processes. He holds a PhD in Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a Bachelor in Science from Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexico. He is a Roger Revelle awardee by the US National Academy of Sciences in 2021 for his contributions to global ocean policy.

Hon. Lae-Hyung Hond, Deputy Minister of Fisheries, Republic of Korea

J. Charles Fox
the Executive Director of Oceans 5

Fox is the Executive Director of Oceans 5, an international funders’ collaborative dedicated to reducing overfishing, establishing marine reserves and stopping offshore oil and gas development. Fox previously served as the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Assistant Administrator for Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Assistant Secretary for the Maryland Department of Environment and the Associate Administrator for EPA’s Office of Reinvention. Fox also served in senior positions with several nonprofit conservation organizations including the Pew Charitable Trusts, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Environmental Policy Institute, and the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. He resides in Annapolis with his wife Catherine.

Session 9: Honiara Summit Outcomes (Coordinator: FAO/ FFA/ RSN)

Session 7: Supporting fisheries sustainability through implementation of international instruments. (Coordinator: FAO)

Dr Jimmie Rodgers
Secretary to the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands

Facilitator

Dr Vera Agostini
Deputy Director of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division at the United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Dr Darius Campbell
Secretary of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission

Dr Pio Manoa
Deputy Director General, Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA)

Dr Graham Pilling
Deputy Director of the Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems division at the Pacific Community (SPC)

Graham is currently the Deputy Director of the Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems division at the Pacific Community (SPC) based in Noumea, New Caledonia, leading the Oceanic Fisheries Programme. He has worked on the tuna fisheries within the western and central Pacific Ocean for over 14 years, providing scientific analyses and advice to SPC members and the wider Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission RFMO membership in support of the region’s sustainably exploited tuna fisheries. Prior to SPC, he was the head of the Seas and Oceans Group with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) in Lowestoft UK, and a marine fisheries consultant at MRAG Ltd in London, working on national and international marine and freshwater fisheries issues.

Dr Neville Smith
Director of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems at the Pacific Community (SPC)

Neville Smith has worked with the Pacific Community (SPC) for nine years, he currently leads SPCs Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems capabilities, and earlier led the fisheries and ecosystems monitoring and analysis science and technical team. SPC is an intergovernmental development organisation whose membership includes all 22 Pacific Island countries and territories. SPCs Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems capabilities include the Coastal Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme, the Oceanic Fisheries Programme, and a Directors Office, all working with members to ensure fisheries and aquaculture in Pacific Island countries and territories are managed and developed sustainably through an ecosystems-based approach. With over 30 years of practical experience as a fisher, non-state actor, researcher, and scientist working for government, in fisheries from the Antarctic to equatorial waters, across the recreational, indigenous, subsidence, artisanal and industrial sectors, and on challenges from understanding fish biology, through mitigating protected species bycatch to integrated systems approaches to monitoring fisheries sustainability, he brings a broad strategic systems perspective to marine resources management and conservation. Prior to SPC, Neville worked with New Zealand’s fisheries agency in fisheries science to underpin the management of aquaculture, and recreational, pelagic and Antarctic fisheries, and to understand and mitigate the impacts of fisheries in and on marine ecosystems. Throughout this time has worked extensively across and around the Pacific in a range of regional fisheries and conservation organisations including CCAMLR, CCSBT, ACAP, WCPFC and SPRFMO.

Alice McDonald
Senior Fishery Officer, at FAO, and is the Secretary of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) and the Secretary of the Regional Fishery Body Secretariats Network

Ambassador Peter Thomson

Ambassador Peter Thomson has served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean since 2017, in which role he is driving the implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goal 14. He was elected to the serve as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations for its 2016-17 term. He was Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2010 to 2016, during which time he was President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS). He led the Fiji team of diplomats that in 2013 chaired the Group of 77 and China – the UN’s largest negotiating group, comprised of 133 developing countries. He was elected as President of the International Seabed Authority’s Assembly in 2011 and as President of its Council in 2015. Ambassador Peter Thomson is a founding Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action and is a supporting member of the High-Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy. He has been conferred with Honorary Doctorates by the University of Bergen and the University of Edinburgh.