The European Union has launched a project funded under the European Development Fund (EDF), including a component aiming to improve the fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing activities in Western Africa.

The five-year project, called PESCAO, aims to improve regional fisheries governance in Western Africa through different measures such as developing a regional fishing policy, putting in place regional coordination against IUU fishing and improving fish stock management at regional level.

The EUR 15 million project is one of the many significant commitments to ocean conservation made by the European Union at the 2017 Our Ocean Conference hosted by the EU in Malta.

“The European Fisheries Control Agency is eager to extend its existing cooperation with fisheries control authorities in the European Union Waters to its two African partners in this project,” pointed out Pascal Savouret, Executive Director.

He also stressed that the Agency considers the PESCAO project of cooperation as a game changer aiming at improving sustainability of fisheries resources through improved monitoring, control and surveillance at national and regional levels.

Source: FIS