The FiTI International Board is the global supervisory body of the initiative. It is accountable to the FiTI Members’ Meeting.
The FiTI International Board oversees the activities of the FiTI through regular Board meetings and Board Circulars.
Board Members are elected at the FiTI Members’ Meetings by all members of the association. The FiTI International Board reflects a multi-stakeholder composition. In accordance with the constitution of the FiTI association, the FiTI International Board comprises of the FiTI Chair and 12 voting Board Members, equally distributed among full members from the three stakeholder groups:
- Governments: a total of four representatives from different countries;
- Business: a total of four representatives, equally aligned to the industrial marine and small-scale marine fisheries sector;
- Civil Society Organizations: a total of four representatives.
The FiTI International Board is presided and represented by its Chair, which does not count towards the total number of seats.
Each Board Member – except the Chair – may have an Alternate, who is welcome to observe meetings and substitutes for the Board Member in case of absence of the Board Member.
About the current FiTI International Board
The current FiTI International Board has been formally established during the 2nd FiTI International Conference, which took place in Bali on 27 April 2017, hosted by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. To ensure stability and knowledge transfer during the transition from the conceptual phase to the implementation phase of the FiTI, it was agreed by the former FiTI International Advisory Group that the 1st FiTI International Board would be primarily recruited among the representatives of the FiTI International Advisory Group.
As part of the legal institutionalisation of the FiTI as an association under Seychellois law in the Seychelles (January 2020), it was further determined in the association’s first resolution that:
- Ms. Valeria Merino continues serving as the Chair of the International Board of the FiTI. Ms. Merino will serve for an initial period of 3 years, from 01 January 2020 to 31 December 2022;
- the current 13 Board Members of the FiTI International Board, as of January 2020, continue serving as Board Members of the new legal entity. As the constitution of the FiTI Association only foresees 12 Board Members, the voting procedures will be adopted accordingly, until the International Board can be reduced to 12 Board Members during 2020. The current Board Members remain in their positions until the first Members’ Meeting is summoned;
- in case that the number of Board Members falls below the required threshold of 12, the International Board has the authority to appoint new Board Members, as well as Alternates, who remain in the posts until the first Members’ Meeting is summoned;
- at the FiTI’s first Members’ Meeting, the International Board will be elected or re-elected in a staggered manner, to ensure continuity within the International Board.
Current members of the FiTI International Board
Chair
Dr. Valeria Merino
Government representatives
Dr. Mamadou Goudiaby, Directeur des Pêches Maritimes, Ministère de la Pêche et de l’Economie Maritime, Republic of Senegal
Ms. Ylva Mattsson, Senior Analyst, International Affairs, Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management
Mr. Philippe Michaud, Special Advisor to the Blue Economy, Republic of the Seychelles
Mr. Mohamed Salem Nany, Director General of Public Investments and Economic Cooperation at Ministry of Economy and Finance, Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Business representatives
Mr. Alexander Biryukov, President, Association of Russian Ship-owners in West Africa
Mr. Francisco Leotte, Group Seafood Sustainability Technical Manager, Thai Union Europe
Mr. Gaoussou Gueye, President, African Confederation of Artisanal Fisheries Professional Organizations (CAOPA)
Mr. Martin Hadiwinata, Head of Law Development and Fisherfolk Advocacy, Traditional Fisherfolk Union of Indonesia (KNTI)
Civil Society representatives
Mr. Sebastián Losada, Oceans policy adviser, Greenpeace
Mr. Francisco J. Marí, Bread for the World
Ms. Nedwa Nech, President, Mauritanie2000
Mr. Alfred Schumm, Director Fisheries and Deputy Lead Oceans, WWF International
Mr. Eduardo Rolón, Executive Director, Causa Natura
Alternate: Mr. Ahmed Senhoury, Director, Regional Partnership for Coastal and Marine Conservation (PRCM)
Observers
African Development Bank, represented by Ms. Salimata Soumare, Senior Natural Resources Governance Officer at African Natural Resources Centre
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, represented by Mr. Marcio Castro de Souza, Senior Fishery Officer – International Trade
The World Bank, represented by Mr. Julien Million, Senior Fisheries Specialist – Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy