Fisheries, including aquaculture, are a vital source of food, employment, trade, economic well-being, and recreation throughout the world. This is true today, and will continue to be true if fishing and associated activities are carried out in a responsible and sustainable manner.
Overview
The 1995 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries or—CCRF—sets out international principles and standards of behavior to ensure effective conservation, management, and development of both marine and freshwater living aquatic resources. It accounts for the impact of fishing on ecosystems, the impact of ecosystems on fisheries, and the need to conserve biodiversity. The CCRF is voluntary, although parts of it are based on relevant international laws.
The CCRF is global and comprehensive in scope. It is directed toward members and non-members of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; fishing entities; subregional, regional, and global organizations (governmental and nongovernmental); everyone concerned with conserving fishery resources, managing fisheries, and developing fisheries; and other users of the aquatic environment in relation to fisheries.
The original implementation plan for the CCRF was published in 1997, and an updated implementation plan was published in 2012. These plans document our commitment to implementing the CCRF both domestically and internationally.
Though nearly 20 years old, the CCRF remains key to achieving sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. The CCRF provides an organizing framework for responsible fisheries—four international plans of action, two strategies, and 28 technical guidelines steer its implementation.
Learn more about the CCRF.
United States National Plans
The international plans of action for the CCRF concern four different topics: the conservation and management of sharks; reducing the incidental catch of seabirds in longline fisheries; the management of fishing capacity; and preventing, deterring, and eliminating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Each international plan calls on Food and Agriculture Organization members to develop their own national plans of action. We completed a United States national plan for each topic and in some cases, reports on the implementation of the national plan.
Conservation and Management of Sharks
Reducing the Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries
Management of Fishing Capacity
Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing
Contact Us
For questions on the Food and Agriculture Organization CCRF or any of the documents listed above, please contact Cheri McCarty (cheri.mccarty@noaa.gov), NOAA Fisheries Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection.
Commercial fishing in the Valdez, Alaska harbor.
NOAA Administrator, Dr. Richard Spinrad, and NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator, Janet Coit, with representatives from the Intertribal Agriculture Council at Seafood Expo North America 2023 in Boston. Credit: NOAA Fisheries.
The Fishadelphia team. Credit: Dr. Talia Young.
Rainbow in the dusk sky at San Diego Harbor. Credit: NOAA/Liana Heberer.