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 brought together stakeholders to discuss some of the pressing socio-environmental and regulatory challenges that confront traditional transboundary fishery mobilities of nomadic coastal communities like the Fante in the region”. Key among suggestions by stakeholders in the workshop include the recognition and inclusion of traditional knowledge in fisheries management and conservation, integration and rationalizing fishing license regimes, making fisheries closures dynamic and flexible, and establishing regional legal mechanisms that address conflicts and facilitate fishery mobilities.
The insights from the workshop are being synthesised into a policy brief with straightforward policy suggestions to address transboundary fishery mobility in the region.
