Meetings to kick-off the SADC Atlantic Project were held in Namibia, Walvis Bay, on 13-16 March 2023. The goal of this inception visit, jointly organised by the Interim Project Management Unit (IPMU) of the SADC Fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) and the team of Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), was to set the foundations for the SADC Atlantic project. The SADC Atlantic project is a US-funded project of the SADC and the SADC MCSCC, which aims at supporting Namibia as well as the two other countries of the Benguela Current Convention – Angola and South Africa – to develop strong engagement in the regional centre and through this contribute to regional efforts to stop illegal fishing.

After the first inception visit in South Africa, the MCSCC IPMU and SIF team were welcomed in Namibia by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) to kick-off cooperation. The aim was to elaborate a tailored action plan for Namibia, based around the project’s four core areas. Managers and fisheries officers responsible for Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) activities – coming from Windhoek, Lüderitz and Walvis Bay – dedicated four days to identify priority needs, which will set the framework of cooperation within the SADC Atlantic project and materialize in trainings starting in the next months.

For Namibia, which is working on strengthening its cooperation with the MCSCC and all SADC countries, this represents an opportunity to further engagement in the work of the MCSCC. It is also timely: a few days before the visit, regional cooperation for sustainable fisheries management and the fight against IUU fishing was high on the agenda of the SADC States, as Botswana became the eleventh signatory to the Charter establishing the MCSCC, enabling  it to enter into force on 8 April 2023 in Maputo, six years after the adoption of the text in 2017.

To ensure the inclusiveness of the process, and that all capacity-building needs would be taken into consideration, the MFMR kicked-off the inception visit with a stakeholder workshop. This consultative meeting gathered in Walvis Bay the different agencies involved in MCS activities, in a geographically representative manner, at management and operational level. The initial workshop was also used to recall the objectives and functions of the MCSCC Centre, and to explain how the support provided by the SADC Atlantic project links to them.

This was followed by further meetings with the Fisheries Monitoring Center (FMC), Fisheries inspectors and the Fisheries Observer Agency (FOA), to refine observations and recommendations made during the workshop. During those dedicated meetings, the experts from SIF also provided insight on instruments and methods to strengthen MCS capacities, which will be part of the upcoming trainings. They presented different remote sensing technology tools to assist the work of the MCS officers as well as body-worn cameras, which are aimed at supporting inspectors during vessel inspections. An on-the-ground test of the cameras was also conducted during the inspection of a vessel, that called into port. This first use of the cameras was a success, and two body-worn cameras were handed over to the FMC.

After this promising initial visit, first trainings were already agreed on as early as May 2023, with a focus on strengthening risk assessment – both in Walvis Bay and Lüderitz.