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A new Stop Illegal Fishing initiative FISH-i Africa launched in the Seychelles – A regional partnership to combat fisheries crimes in Southeast Africa
The Seychellois Minister of Investment, Natural Resources and Industry opened an exciting new regional partnership to help stop illegal fishing in the Western Indian Ocean region of South-eastern Africa on Thursday the 13th December at Beau Vallon in the Seychelles. The initiative has been developed through a partnership between the five coastal States of Comoros, Kenya, Mozambique, Seychelles and the United Republic of Tanzania, the Stop Illegal Fishing working group of the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA), and the Pew Environment Group. These partners will work to build cooperation, information-sharing and analytical systems between the key Southeast African coastal states to prepare them for targeted enforcement actions against IUU fishing operators in the Western Indian Ocean. The work will also involve cooperation with regional partners such as the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC).
Fish-i Africa was establish to strengthen regional fishery related information and intelligence sharing in order to enable countries of Africa to implement the recommendations from the first Conference of African Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture (CAMFA) ‘that MCS systems and regional cooperation should be strengthened and that urgent actions at national and regional levels are required to deter and eradicate IUU Fishing’ as well as other regional and international commitments such as the SADC Statement of Commitment to Combat IUU Fishing and the IOTC Resolution on Port State Measures.
Fish-i Africa aims to improve information-sharing and cooperation, to develop tools and databases for the strategic gathering and use of information and for assessing risks, and to demonstrate how to use different sources of information strategically in order to target enforcement actions against illegal operators in the coastal States’ fishing grounds or in their ports. The partner countries have committed to establish a platform for real-time sharing of sometimes sensitive data on vessels, their movements, catch and owners, aimed at enabling nations to take timely action against suspected illegal operators.
The Seychelles Minister for Investment, Natural Resources and Industry Peter Sinon, opened the Fish-i Africa inaugural meeting of fisheries officials and agencies in Victoria, said: "Africa sits in the middle of very important and fragile oceans. We can no longer tolerate illegal fishing. We have to ensure this finite resource is passed on to future generations, and we have the jurisdiction to act now".
During the two day meeting, participating countries, partners and experts made several recommendations for the next steps these included; forming a regional FISH-i Africa Task Force with the five countries supported technically by FISH-i Africa partners and a Secretariat based at Stop Illegal Fishing; that the Task Force consider mechanisms and procedures to invite other countries of the region to join forces with them; that a communications strategy be developed. Finally, the countries committed to work together to seek and allocate resources to ensure that enforcement actions take place, to implement their legislative frameworks, and develop joint strategies towards combating IUU fishing.