News
Executive Committee Meeting maps new pathway for SIF
The Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF) Executive Committee met with the SIF team in Gaborone from 4–5 June 2026 for their annual meeting.
The meeting provided an opportunity for the Executive Committee to gain a comprehensive overview of the organisation, its operations, and ongoing initiatives, while also mapping out the way forward for SIF and its continued support to partners.
Discussions focused on the organisation’s various projects, available funding opportunities, potential future initiatives, and the long-term sustainability of SIF. This is a challenging time for NGOs with many complex institutional issues to navigate and an ever-growing landscape of IUU issues to support countries and regional bodies to overcome.
The meeting discussed SIF’s involvement with the SADC MCSCC and how this would evolve moving forward, into a more supportive than driving role, as the Center is now established in Maputo, Mozambique. This dovetails well in the upcoming 20-year celebration of SIF, since its inception as a project to support the development of the SADC Statement of Commitment on combatting IUU fishing, which famously called for the creation of an MCS Centre for the SADC in 2008.
The Committee highlighted the potential role of SIF in driving the pan-African network on IUU fishing that has evolved since its conception in 2017 at the end of FISH-i Africa – then named simply Vigilance – now named African Vigilance. This aligns to the role SIF played as the Chair of the African Union Group on MCS and the pivotal role it has played in forming the African Voice at Pan-African and Global dialogues.
SIF’s participation in the Our Ocean Conference in June 2026 in Kenya, Mombasa was discussed as an opportunity to connect with partners and to hold strategic discussions with current and potential partners on our pathway for the coming ten years.
The Committee agreed that SIF has played a key role in working with countries and organizations to unite against IUU fishing in the past 20 years and that now it must build on these successes to create a strong institution to navigate the coming ten years focusing on its support to southern and eastern Africa while promoting the pan-African network – African Vigilance.
The Chairperson of SIF, Mark Ssemakula, concluded the meeting by encouraging members to continue doing the work they are passionate about, remain united, strengthen planning for ocean conservation, tap into existing networks, and help build and strengthen the Stop Illegal Fishing brand. He reminded members that SIF is a respected brand that should continue to grow through collaboration, commitment, and shared vision.