West Africa Task Force meets at AU/ECOWAS Workshop on IUU Fishing in West Africa

February 2016 – Members of the West Africa Task Force (WATF) attended the Workshop on Strengthening Capacity and Promoting Regional Cooperation to Effectively Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in West Africa, held in Abuja, Nigeria from 15 to 20 February 2016. The event was organized by the African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and with the support of European Union (EU).

Delegates from the six member countries of the Fisheries Committee for West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) had the opportunity to meet and follow up on the WATF working plan. Ariella D’Andrea (Legal Consultant NFDS) interviewed representatives from each member State in order to confirm information on fisheries legislation, licensing of fishing vessels and fisheries-related violations occurring in their waters. Such information forms the basis of a legal study aiming at improving fisheries intelligence and MCS capacity in the sub-region.

Other members of the WATF coordination team attended the event, including the FCWC Secretariat NFDS and Trygg Mat Tracking.