Group photo – Fisheries Stock Assessment in the FCWC Region launched in Côte d’Ivoire
The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea participated in the launch ceremony for the fisheries stock resources assessment on 7 May 2024, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
This fisheries stock assessment is being conducted by the R/V Fridtjof Nansen as part of the EAF-Nansen programme funded by the Government of Norway and implemented by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Eight scientists from Ghana and nine scientists from Cote d’Ivoire will join the research vessel to assess the levels of pelagic and demersal fish resources, and pollution levels in the marine waters of the two countries.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, Ghana’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and FCWC Chairperson, Hon. Mavis Hawa Koomson shared that Member States of FCWC are either developing or implementing measures to finetune the measures to deal with the challenges in the fisheries sector. “The information and data that would be collected during the survey is vital in formulating management measures for sustainable exploitation of our fisheries resources,” she stated.
The stock assessment follows one conducted earlier in Liberia after it successfully engaged the services of the Oceanographic Research Center of Dakar, Senegal (CRODT), to analyze its coastal pelagic and demersal fish resources.
FCWC Chairperson Hon. Koomson expressed her hope that Benin, Togo and Nigeria would also benefit from stock assessments in the future to ensure that a picture of the status of the fish stocks in the entire FCWC region becomes possible.
