The Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians for the Oceans (CAP-Oceans) is the only gathering of legislators from around the world focused solely on the protection of the oceans and our fishers.

The CAP-Oceans is a realization of PGA’s Campaign on the Protection of the Oceans & Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Oceans Campaign). This assembly of parliamentarians engaging in interactive discussion and knowledge-sharing represents a unique opportunity for legislators from around the world to identify unique strategies for the sustainable use of a common heritage of humankind: the oceans.

The CAP-Oceans launched in 2019, hosted by the parliament of Cape Verde, and provided for a dedicated day of action for the momentum built by PGA’s Oceans Campaign (established by the PGA Board in 2016 and officially launched at the first UN Oceans Conference in 2017). Legislators gather to discuss shared challenges relating to the oceans and fisheries, while exploring lessons-learnt and best practices from fellow legislators and experts. Topics of discussion align with Projects under the Oceans Campaign, including:

• Project on Ending Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing
• Project on Increasing Sustainability of Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF)
  
• Project on Protecting the High Seas
• Project on Conserving at least 30 Percent of the Ocean by 2030
• Project on Deep Seabed Conservation

A Strategic Call to Action

Common aspects to the CAP-Oceans:

• Plan of Action: Attending legislators adopt a concrete outcome document at the closing of each CAP-Oceans, which serves as a roadmap for the protection of the oceans and fishers as they engage with these topics in their home countries.
• Strategic locations: The CAP-Oceans is held in strategic locations to facilitate engagement by legislators from countries with particular involvement in specific CAP-Oceans themes (eg sustainable small-scale fisheries or marine protected areas).
• Representation: As the oceans span the globe, so do the solutions for its sustainable use and protections of fishers. The CAP-Oceans employs PGA’s methodology of peer-to-peer dialogue and a non-partisan approach to ensure equitable parliamentary representation from countries at various points in their own efforts to protect the oceans and fishers.

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When we had our very first Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians on the Oceans two years ago in Cape Verde, I was so happy at the end because of this great engagement by all MPs and I called you all ocean warriors. I think today shows that we still are, and even more convinced, ocean warriors. It is important for all of us, not only as every second breath we take comes from the oceans, but as such an important resource and a global public good that is necessary to be protected.Ms. Petra Bayr, MP (Austria), PGA Executive Committee during the 2021 Second CAP-Oceans