The Essential EAFM training course

The ecosystem approach offers a practical and effective means to manage fisheries more holistically. It represents a move away from fisheries management that focuses on target species, towards systems and decision-making processes that balance environmental, human and social well-being within improved governance frameworks.

For many, these are new concepts and considerations. Decentralization policies have also left local units with the challenging task of developing management plans that not only work locally, but also fit into broader fishery/ecosystem strategies. The Essential EAFM training course has been designed to address these capacity development needs and provides the practical skills, tools and resources to do so.

Course materials available for use

A complete set of Essential EAFM course materials has been developed and is available for use free of charge on this website. Relevant organizations are encouraged to make use of these materials which include: learning modules, presentations, tools to be used at different stages in the EAFM process, a resource guide, handbook, session plans and workbooks.

This website also includes basic information about the ecosystem approach to fisheries management as well as what students will learn and how they will benefit from Essential EAFM.

Progress with E-EAFM training across the region

It is almost two years since BOBLME successfully piloted the E-EAFM training in June 2013 at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Since then we are pleased to report that BOBLME and our partners have together carried out 31 courses across all the countries (including in the Non-BOBLME country Philippines). There have been a total of 645 participants (395 Male and 250 Female), mostly staff from governments of participating countries.

To support ongoing delivery of the E-EAFM training and follow up, BOBLME has also appointed a regional EAFM coordinator, based in SEAFDEC Training Department, Thailand.

BOBLME and partners are committed to the ongoing roll out and development of the E-EAFM course. This includes for example, translation of the course to local languages and ongoing quality improvement.

A "LEAD EAFM" course for policy and decision makers, to support EAFM implementation is also being developed with partners and a course scoping workshop was held in Phuket, Thailand in April 2015.

Statistic of number of E-EAFM training course

31 training events - 645 totaly trained - Click here for full list

• 23 EAFM training courses and 8 training-of-trainers (ToT)
• 645 participants trained (395 male and 250 female)
• 88 ToT participants
• Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka: 1 training and 1 ToT each
• Indonesia: 2 trainings (also Bahasa Indonesia translation)
• Malaysia: 6 trainings and 1 ToT (also Bahasa Melayu translation)
• Thailand: 4 trainings (also SEAFDEC/ASEAN) and 2 ToT
• Philippines: 8 trainings (also CTI) and 2 ToT