On 17 – 18 June 2024, State Parties to the Charter Establishing the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) met in Maputo, Mozambique for their second Operational Task Force (OTF) meeting. This was an important landmark in regional cooperation against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, building on a process that SADC countries had been developing for several years. This cooperative effort is based on the idea that pooling resources strengthens the ability to detect illegal operators more efficiently, creating a real barrier and deterrent to IUU fishing. The meeting was officially opened by Mr. Victor Minde Zimba, Acting Director of National Directorate of Police and Cooperation who noted the importance of fisheries in the livelihood of SADC people, hence, the necessity to protect the resource.

With the Charter for the Establishment of the SADC Regional Fisheries MCSCC in force, the focus is now on advancing processes related to the operationalisation of the MCSCC, including harmonising standards of operations with regards to fisheries management in the region. Following the inaugural meeting of the MCSCC OTF on 6 – 8 December 2023, the second meeting, amongst others, finalised Task Force Terms of Reference to guide the OTF. These will be presented to the newly appointed MCSCC Board of Directors (BoD) for consideration. The OTF also made progress in technical discussions regarding the implementation of the SADC Regional Register of Fishing Vessels (RRFV), which aims to establish harmonised criteria that fishing vessels must meet to gain access across the region; the RRFV has transparency at its core, which is essential in the fight against IUU fishing. Additionally, the OTF identified priorities for the next steps needed to make the MCSCC operational, in line with the key functions outlined in the MCSCC Charter.

The OTF meeting was attended by a total of 43 delegates from 12 SADC Member States: Republic of Angola, Kingdom of Eswatini, Kingdom of Lesotho, Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Mozambique, Republic of Namibia, Republic of Seychelles, Republic of South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Zambia, and Republic of Zimbabwe. In addition, the SADC Secretariat, the Interim Project Management Unit (IPMU), the Regional Technical Team (RTT) of the MCSCC, and representatives from partners to the MCSCC such as Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), Benguela Current Convention (BCC), Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC), TRAFFIC, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), and FishFORCE Academy were present.

The OTF meeting received support from the Oceans Vigilance project of the MCSCC, implemented by SIF and sponsored by Oceans 5, along with support from WWF Mozambique, and the FishFORCE Academy.