His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales today paid a visit to the Penang Headquarters of WorldFish. The Prince attending together with Victoria Treadell, British High Commissioner to Malaysia and Justin Mundy, Director, International Sustainability Unit, Prince Charles Charities took the opportunity to discuss with WorldFish leadership and Fisheries Malaysia the fragility of ocean ecosystems and the vulnerabilities of the communities that engage with them.
The meeting was also attended Dato’ Hj. Mohd Rashid b. Hasnon, Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, the Honorable Dato’ Sri Devamany A/L Krishnasamy, Minister-in-Attendance and Bhg. Dato’ Haji Munir bin Haji Mohd Nawi, Director General of Fisheries Malaysia and newly appointed Member of the WorldFish Board of Trustees.
At the recent Our Oceans Conference in Malta the Prince articulated threats to the marine environment and its crucial role as a source of prosperity, livelihoods and food security for many regions, countries and communities. The meeting acknowledged that this human element to international discourse on oceans is often missing. WorldFish Director General Designate, Gareth Johnstone also highlighted fish as a powerful means to affect nutrition security where deficiencies of micronutrients and essential fatty acids are widespread among people who obtain most of their energy from staple foods such as wheat, maize and rice.
“It is a real pleasure and an honor for us to host a visit by His Royal Highness,” said Johnstone. “The Prince has become a powerful voice in discussions on oceans sustainability and has long been a strong supporter of sustainable development, particularly in agriculture. We have noted his words of support and many shared areas of interest and goals which will be an inspiration as we take forward our programs to address global development challenges through fisheries and aquaculture.”
The Director General of Fisheries Malaysia, YBhg Dato’ Hj Munir bin Hj Mohd Nawi shared his views on the importance of ensuring sustainable management, utilization and conservation of fisheries resources for future generations. He also underscored the need for concerted regional and international actions to combat Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as well as the opportunity to harness on the power of technology to help resolving the problem.
Blake Ratner, Director General, WorldFish: "Today’s visit to WorldFish by HRH The Prince of Wales is testament to our shared conviction of the strategic importance of fisheries in the ‘blue economy’ – and the role of people-centered science for sustainable development of the small-scale fisheries sector.”
On arrival at the WorldFish headquarters the Prince was shown a small selection of photography highlighting WorldFish work on small scale fisheries as well as research collaboration between WorldFish and Fisheries Malaysia. The half hour meeting was followed by a photo opportunity with WorldFish staff. The visit was undertaken as part of the Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall’s Autumn Tour taking in visits to Singapore, Malaysia and India.
For more information or to request an interview contact:
Toby Johnson, Head of Communications
Mobile Tel: +60 (0) 175 124 606
Email: t.johnson@cgiar.org
Web: worldfishcenter.org
Photography: flickr.com/photos/theworldfishcenter/
About WorldFish
WorldFish is an international, nonprofit research organization that harnesses the potential of fisheries and aquaculture to reduce hunger and poverty. Globally, more than one billion poor people obtain most of their animal protein from fish and 800 million depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods. WorldFish is a member of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future.
About FISH
Pursuing a research agenda through a network of multistakeholder partners, The CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH) enhances the contributions of fisheries and aquaculture to reducing poverty and improving food security and nutrition. FISH brings together a unique set of multi-stakeholder partnerships to harness emerging science in aquaculture and fisheries to deliver development outcomes at scale. FISH is led by WorldFish, together with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, Australia; the International Water Management Institute ; Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich (NRI), England and Wageningen University, Netherlands . In regional contexts, the program partners closely with governments, NGOs, the private sector and research organizations to influence national, regional and global policy and development practice.
About CGIAR
CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. Its science is carried out by the 15 research Centers that are members of the CGIAR Consortium in collaboration with hundreds of partners.