News

Forty-first Meeting of the SADC Technical Committee on Fisheries.

The 41st meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Technical Committee on Fisheries, was held on the 26 to 27 March 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the meeting, the Implementation of Summit, Council, and Ministerial Decisions was updated, and the status of domestication and implementation of the SADC Protocol on Fisheries was discussed. The meeting also addressed the status of Ratification and Implementation of the Charter establishing the newly established monitoring, control and surveillance coordination centre (MCSCC), based in Maputo, Mozambique was discussed.

Sandy Davies, who represented SIF provided an update on the projects supporting the operationalization of the MCSCC, which included the SADC Atlantic and Oceans Vigilance projects. While talking about the SADC Regional Register of Fishing Vessels she noted that there would be great benefit in calculating the potential revenue that the MCSCC could make from the register as well as expressing the other advantages of the register such as, to have a minimum regional standard for fishing vessels to comply with before being permitted access into the region in order to reduce illegal fishing incidents. An update on the SADC Atlantic project was provided highlighting the successful work in Angola, Namibia and South Africa as they engage in the MCSCC processes. In particular the successful launch of SADC Atlantic in Angola was discussed and the implementation of risk assessment training which took place in February 2024.