The sixteenth meeting of the West Africa Task Force (WATF) was held in Monrovia, Liberia, on 12 – 14 June 2024. For this bi-annual meeting of the Task Force, Fisheries Directors and Heads of Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) from the Fisheries Commission for the West Central Gulf of Guinea’s (FCWC) Member States put an emphasis on advancing the realisation of key commitments for regional cooperation against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing through the FCWC’s Regional Monitoring Control and Surveillance Centre (RMCSC), notably the objective to establish a Regional Register of Fishing Vessels (RRAFV). This meeting also marked the handover of Duncan Copeland to Gareth Johnstone as the Executive Director of SIF’s partner TMT.

The 16^th meeting of the WATF was hosted by the Republic of Liberia and opened by the Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA), Ms. Emma Metieh-Glassco. To embrace the vision of the FCWC to support sustainable fisheries management in the region, developing the right strategies and policies is key, the Director General said in her welcome remarks: “The most important is that we do it as a region, we have to implement the same policies”.

Harmonising MCS practices is one of the key objectives set by the FCWC. On many levels, countries have showed progress towards this goal. On the operational side, several regional Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are being developed and tested in the countries, notably with regards to processing risk assessments and conducting inspections. FCWC are also increasingly cooperating on implementing conservation and fisheries management measures, notably closed seasons, which they recognised as a key management measure to ensure the sustainable use of resources.

One of the key mechanisms set in the FCWC Convention in terms of MCS harmonisation is the establishment of a sub-regional register of vessels engaged in fishing in the zone, including carrier and support service vessels. According to Article 7.2 of the Convention, “Vessels not in the sub-regional register of vessels are not allowed to fish in the zone or carry out transshipment and support operations.” First steps to consider the parameters to establish such register through the RMCSC were made at the WATF 16, including discussions on the sharing of responsibilities between Contracting Parties and the RMCSC, scope of application of the Register, and conditions to be applied. The growing cooperation between FCWC Contracting parties and the RMCSC provide a solid base for the establishment of a Regional Register (RRAFV) – with the current sharing by Member States of licence lists, and the support of the RMCSC in conducting risk assessments of fishing vessels upon request from Contracting Parties. Whilst the parameters for such Regional Register will need further consultations, WATF members recognised the advantages and the benefits that the RRAFV could provide in terms of opportunities, including its potential to underpin efforts to achieve sustainability of the RMCSC in the long term. Access to the RRAFV could be conditioned to the payment of user fees by fishing vessels operators. This could generate permanent revenues to cover the functioning of the RMCSC. As the Task Force is currently finalising a sustainability plan for the Centre, such mechanism, already implemented successfully in the Pacific region (FFA), appears as a tangible option for financial sustainability of the RMCSC operations.

The establishment of a Regional Register is embedded in the vision set in the FCWC Convention and its broader strategy to ensure appropriate management, long term conservation and sustainable use of their fisheries resources. These reflections led to discussions on the overarching FCWC strategy and regional initiatives it promotes. Other discussions included exchanges on the  review of the current strategy of the FCWC with regards to at-sea transshipment, notably to align it with the FAO transhipment guidelines – and take into consideration growing understanding in the FCWC that risks are also prevalent in transshipments in ports.