ABUJA (12th – 14th November 2018) – The West Africa Task Force of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) is hosting a 3-day meeting to focus on the Norad funded project Phase 2 and review hindrances to transparency and anti-corruption in the fisheries sector;
As recommended by the FCWC Fisheries Ministers, the West Africa Task Force initiative has been approved for a second phase after the end of the first in September 2018. The meeting will review a proposed action plan for the implementation of the FCWC Strategy to Combat Illegal Transhipment at Sea; opportunities for increasing transparency in fisheries in the region; challenges to better integrating Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement across the region.
Participants in this meeting include Directors of Fisheries, Heads of Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) from each FCWC member country, and representatives of organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FITI) among others.
The West Africa Task Force (WATF) initiative brings together the six member countries of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) – Bénin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Togo – to tackle illegal fishing and stop the trade in illegally caught fish. The Task Force is facilitated by the FCWC Secretariat and supported by a Technical Team that includes Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT), Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF) with funding from the Norwegian Cooperation Agency (NORAD). Through active cooperation, information sharing and facilitating the operations of national interagency working groups, the West Africa Task Force is working together to stop illegal fishing.
For further information, please visit www.fcwc-fish.org; www.tm-tracking.org; www.stopillegalfishing.com.
