In continuation of the series of capacity-building in-country missions to further strengthen fishery data from the FCWC Member States, the FAO’s Fisheries and Resources Monitoring Secretariat (FIRMS) is conducting a five-day in-country mission to Ghana from 15-19 July 2024 at the FCWC Headquarters in Tema, Ghana.

Through a Letter of Agreement between the FAO-FIRMS and FCWC to address multiple objectives, a workplan was developed to further strengthen FCWC Member States reporting of fishery data by reviewing and streamlining the workflow for the collation and submission of fishery catch and effort statistics.

The mission brought an FAO expert together with Ghana’s National Data team from the Fisheries Scientific Survey Division (FSSD) to assess the capacity needs for the collection, analysis and production of high-quality statistics. The mission is ensuring harmonization of fisheries data for an accurate and timely reporting to national institutions and international organizations (e.g. FCWC, FAO, ICCAT), thereby improving the quality of the statistical data and enable them to provide higher accuracy and relevance in data-driven policy formulation.

Enhanced data quality and availability is a key to better-informed decision-making, sustainable fisheries management and conservation efforts. This activity is in line with Intervention Area 3 in the FCWC’s Strategic Action Plan 2021-2030: the development of fisheries research and the regional information system to support management measures.

Kofi Taylor-Hayford
Communication Officer, FCWC