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Madagascar shows strong leadership to advance the SADC Regional Register of Fishing Vessels
Regional cooperation through the MCSCC to combat IUU fishing, and providing them with tools to strengthen their MCS capacities, in particular on conducting risk assessments and inspections of fishing vessels. By integrating such risk assessments in their MCS practices, Madagascar is advancing the establishment of the Regional Register of Fishing Vessels (RRFV), one of the key functions of the MCSCC, which Minister for Fisheries and the Blue Economy (MPEB) His Excellency Paubert Mahatante is placing high in the agenda of the SADC.
March to May are busy months for fisheries inspectors in Diégo Suarez/Antsiranana, one of Madagascar’s six designated ports under the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA). This is a peak time for foreign-fishing vessel calling into port – when tropical tuna from the Indian Ocean crosses through Madagascar’s waters. The port of Diégo Suarez is an important port for tuna production, with foreign fishing vessels either landing their tuna for processing in the Pêche Froid Océan Indien (PFOI) factory or for onward export. For this reason, the port was chosen as a location to host the capacity building workshop on risk assessments of fishing vessels. The SADC MCSCC Oceans Vigilance project partnered with Fisheries Monitoring Centre (Centre de Surveillance des Pêches, CSP), SIF, TMT, WWF and the local IUU fishing observatory Fitsinjo to organise the workshop followed by a sensitisation event.
Madagascar has been making significant efforts to tackle IUU fishing in their waters, and SIF has been working with the authorities for over a decade to provide recommendations and capacity building to support those actions. In 2021, the government created the Ministry for Fisheries and the Blue Economy (MPEB), following the drive in Madagascar to promote blue growth, with fisheries as one of its five strategic pillars[i].
In the SADC, the country is seen as one of the champions to promote transparency and regional cooperation as key tools to protect our fisheries and to combat threats to their sustainability, in particular IUU fishing. Madagascar is engaged in numerous initiatives and partnerships to advance this vision. In 2022, the country became a Party to the Charter establishing MCSCC, a powerful tool to strengthen cooperation and capacity of SADC Member States to stop IUU fishing.
As a Party to the MCSCC, Madagascar benefits from support from the Regional Centre to strengthen its MCS capacities. The risk assessment training organised this month in Diégo-Suarez is part of this capacity building that the Centre offers to the countries. For four days, fisheries inspectors from the six designated ports in Madagascar (Diégo-Suarez, Mahajanga, Tuléar, Tomatave, Fort-Dauphin and – since April 2025 – Nosy-Be) were introduced to different tools and methodology promoted through the MCSCC to assess risks of fishing vessels and support decision-making processes to deal with risk once identified. The MCSCC, supported by its technical partners, has been testing these tools throughout the SADC region to support harmonisation of MCS procedures, one of the objectives of the SADC Ministers in charge of Fisheries when they adopted the MCSCC Charter.
Risk assessments of fishing vessels are relevant to Madagascar in many circumstances: before a vessel comes to port, before application for registration or fishing authorisation, and before fish is imported into the country. Decisions and actions based on the results of those risk assessments will however not always depend on the fisheries administration alone. For this reason, representatives from the maritime and port authorities (APMF), as well as from the gendarmerie and the navy also participated in the training to be sensitised on what constitutes a risk, and on the role they can play in addressing those risks. The risk assessment methodology, which was tested during the training on existing cases of vessels coming into port and applying for a fishing licence in Madagascar is an additional tool that national officers can integrate to their routine work and processes, providing the opportunity for systematic and standardised risk assessments. After the training, the MCSCC and its technical partners will continue offering coaching and mentoring support to fisheries inspectors and to tailor the methodology to the Malagasy context.
By integrating such risk assessments in their MCS practices, Madagascar is also advancing the establishment of the RRFV, one of the key functions of the MCSCC. MPEB Minister Mahatante emphasised Madagascar’s commitment to the establishment of the RRFV, calling on all SADC Member States to follow that lead. “IUU fishing is a global issue, Madagascar cannot do it alone. The Regional Register is the only way for us to make the difference between those who abide by our rules and those who violate them deliberately. This is our opportunity to ensure that those who engage in IUU fishing activities are not authorised on our Regional Register. We need the whole region and all stakeholders to commit to that”, the Minister said.
A strong ingredient for success of effective actions against IUU fishing is sensitisation and the mobilisation of all stakeholders, something the Minister is also strongly committed to. Following the training, the MPEB therefore opened its doors to the public to sensitise about its commitment to regional cooperation and partnerships to promote a thriving blue economy and protect its fisheries. This half-day dialogue event was organised to raise awareness among the public and relevant stakeholders on Madagascar’s national and regional commitments to achieve this objective. This was the opportunity for the public to exchange with H.E. Paubert Mahatante on Madagascar’s engagement and leadership in building a united and integrated response to illegal fishing activity across Southern Africa. “We need regional cooperation to exchange and validate information on fishing operations, which helps us to make decisions that have an impact on our national fisheries resources”, he said. “This is why we are committed to cooperating with our SADC neighbours through the MCSCC coordination Centre, to unite in the fight against illegal operators and ensure that legitimate fishermen can benefit from our ocean resources”.