The United Nations Fisheries Training Programme - GRÓ FTP

The University of Akureyri has been an active participant in the United Nations Fisheries Training Programme since its establishment in 1998. The school now has the name of GRÓ Fisheries Training Programme (GRÓ FTP) after being merged with GRÓ Centre for Capacity, Sustainability and Developmental Change which works under the auspices of UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

This year, 9 students attend the training programme which is located at the University of Akureyri. The students, who come from El Salvador, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Namibia and Cape Verde, will stay here until early April.

“They are learning the methods of fisheries administration in a very wide context, how to catch fish sustainably, how to ensure that the fishing returns a profit and how the industry can maximise its benefits to society. The agenda is highly varied, with 18 members of HA academic staff guiding and teaching the group and we also work closely with the Directorate of Fisheries,” says Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson, dean of the Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences and director of the Fisheries Training Programme.

The Centre for Development Cooperation, whose full name is International Centre for Capacity Sustainability and Developmental Change, of which the Fisheries Training Programme constitutes one department, is an international centre for the progress of knowledge and skills in the developing countries, as indicated on the website of the Icelandic Marine and Freshwater Research Institute. The centre (now GRÓ) operates under the auspices of the United Nations Fisheries Training Programme, the Icelandic Foreign Ministry and the Icelandic Marine and Freshwater Research Institute.

GRÓ serves an important function in international cooperation and helps strengthen the University of Akureyri’s world-wide network of connections.