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NOAA training for the West Africa Task Force

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) partnered with the West Africa Task Force (WATF) and the Fishery Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) to conduct training in Accra, Ghana from 26-29 July 2016.  A total of 38 Government officials attended the training from the six countries of the West Africa Task Force (Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria).

Mr Dedi Nadje Seraphin, Secretary General of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) and Godfrey Baidoo-Tsibu of the Ghanaian Fisheries Commission opened the meeting.

Training sessions were led by experts from NOAA and from the WATF Technical Team, including the FCWC, Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT) and NFDS. All presenters focused on providing background information on IUU fishing in the region and promoting inter-agency and regional coordination to combat IUU fishing. The wealth of experience in fisheries enforcement, prosecution, and management of participants contributed to the ability of the group as a whole to share information, experiences, and lessons learned on topics relevant to fisheries enforcement and prosecution in the region.

Per Erik Bergh, from SIF, welcomed the opportunity provided by the joint training “we value the support from NOAA in making this event possible. Training of this kind, which brings together fisheries enforcement officers with allied agencies will increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions for illegal fishing and fisheries crime”.

The WATF brings together the six member countries of the FCWC – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo – to tackle illegal fishing and fisheries crime. The Task Force is facilitated by the FCWC Secretariat and supported by a Technical Team that includes TMT, SIF and NFDS with funding from Norad.