The Secretary General of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) Seraphin Dedi is attending the meeting of African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Experts on Fisheries and Aquaculture in Brussels, Belgium from the 16-17th October 2018.
The two-day meeting, organized by the Sustainable Economic Development and Trade Department of the ACP Secretariat brings together fisheries and aquaculture experts from ACP regional organizations to improve coordination among regions and strengthen modalities for monitoring the implementation of ACP fisheries and aquaculture strategies and policies.
Mr Dedi gave a presentation on the regional initiatives of the FCWC highlighting the recent achievements regarding implementation of the Regional Plan of Action Against Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing (RPOA-IUU) and the new Regional Fisheries Management Plan. He emphasized the interagency cooperation in combatting IUU fishing as well as regional approach to address fisheries management. “Countries recognized that national-level management decisions have an impact at regional level, as they create capacity displacements in transboundary fisheries. Management decisions also impact on MCS priorities and inform MCS planning processes,” Mr Dedi said.
The specific objectives of the meeting aim at reviewing proposed actions to improve coordination arrangements and optimize partnerships with ACP regional organizations; and proposed modalities for establishing a learning and knowledge-sharing platform for ACP fisheries and aquaculture best practices.
“FCWC has demonstrated cooperation with regional and international engagements in fisheries, developed synergies with other initiatives, and will be pleased to partner in the implementation and monitoring of ACP’s strategic plan of actions for fisheries and aquaculture,” Mr Dedi said.
Although aquaculture development is taking off in many ACP countries, they are confronted by multiple challenges as a result of unsustainable practices, overfishing, IUU fishing and climate change related threats which threaten the health of marine ecosytems, fish stocks, food security and livelihoods.
ACP states have made consistent progress to enhance the trade performance of fisheries and aquaculture products. However, there have been challenges such as supply side constraints that impair the competitiveness and productivity of value chains in fisheries.
Therefore, the ACP ministers reaffirmed in September 2017, the importance of the ACP strategic plan of actions for fisheries and aquaculture, inviting the ACP Secretariat to propose adequate arrangements for implementation of the plan at regional and state levels.
