Group photo of participants at the Multistakeholder Workshop on Fishery Mobilities in West Africa
The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) participated in a multistakeholder workshop on Fishery Mobilities in West Africa at the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR) Conference Room in the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, on 18 March 2025.
The workshop was organised as a part of a Dutch Research Council (NWO)-funded Vidi research project, “Climate-related Mobilities in the Borderlands” of the Wageningen University, Netherlands, with support from the ACECoR and other partners.
The workshop brought together fisherfolk, government representatives, NGOs, and researchers to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to transboundary fishery mobilities and the sustainability of marine ecosystems and fishing livelihoods in West Africa. Specifically, the workshop aimed to examine how Fante nomadic fishery livelihoods and traditions are affected by regulations aimed at addressing socio-environmental issues (such as seasonal closures, the establishment of TURFs and re-zoning of fish landing sites, MPAs, etc.) and the challenges of overfishing, illegal fishing practices, rising sea surface temperatures – affecting the region’s shared fish stocks.
The insights from the workshop are being synthesised into a policy brief with straightforward policy suggestions to address transboundary fishery mobility in the region.
