TMT’s Duncan Copeland (in the middle) receiving awards from FCWC’s Gaston Djihinto (left-hand side) and NaFAA’s Emma M. Glasco (right-hand side)
In a short ceremony at the West Africa Task Force (WATF) Meeting 16, FCWC Secretary-General Dr. Antoine Gaston Djihinto delivered a trophy to TMT’s Executive Director, Duncan Copeland, in honor and recognition of his pioneering role in the fisheries sector of the region.
In the presence of Liberia’s Director General, Hon. Madam Emma Metieh Glassco, the trophy was handed over to celebrate Duncan Copeland’s role after years of leading TMT and building what is increasingly being recognized globally as a shining example of state-and-non-state actor cooperation. TMT has provided crucial financial, technical, operational and capacity-building support to the FCWC, enhancing the organization’s ability to deliver on its mandate.
Historically, the bulk of FCWC’s activities have been Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS)-related. The lead mechanism for the FCWC’s MCS activities has been the West Africa Task Force, borne out of a working group that was established under the Fisheries Intelligence and MCS Support in West Africa project funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), and supported by TMT and Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF).
FCWC Secretary-General in a short speech, stated “With the present reality of improved fisheries governance in our region, it is difficult, if not impossible to imagine a past where countries in the region did not communicate or collaborate, and left gaping holes for bad actors in the fisheries and maritime sector to exploit. The WATF is without doubt among the mechanisms responsible for this improvement, and Duncan Copeland’s role at the helm of TMT’s affairs is to be applauded.”
WATF has strengthened regional information-sharing and cooperation between countries; interagency cooperation at the national level; and facilitated region-wide enforcement actions triggered by intelligence analysis and information-sharing, all while simultaneously building the FCWC region’s capacity to sustain these accomplishments.
The WATF is currently in its third phase following through on plans to sustain the linchpins of the region’s collaboration and cooperation in fisheries: the FCWC’s establishment of a Regional MCS Centre (RMCSC), and the FCWC WATF’s creation of a regional online communications platform.
