The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), received a visit from a team from the European Union Delegation to Ghana on 21 October 2020, at the FCWC headquarters in Tema, Ghana.
The EUD team visit is part of the monitoring process in the European Union-funded Improved Regional Fisheries Governance in Western Africa Programme dubbed (PESCAO), to verify the FCWC’s implementation and completion of the establishment of the regional MCS Centre.
The PESCAO project aims at enhancing regional fisheries management by firstly, addressing regional fisheries policy at the Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) level; secondly by building the capacities of competent national and regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) authorities to deter Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing; and thirdly demonstrating the added value of coordinated approaches for shared fisheries management.
Commenting on the successful establishment of the centre, FCWC Secretary-General Seraphin Dedi stated, “the establishment of this centre is a game-changer in the regional fight against IUU. We now have a stronger platform on which to build capacity in MCS in this region. Through existing and upcoming partnerships, we are able to better equip and position ourselves to deal successfully with all menaces to our fisheries sector through joint actions.”
The RMCSC was established in the second year of the PESCAO project, April 2020, and includes a regional vessel monitoring system (RVMS) with AIS enabled, and a communications/training room. A coordinator for the RMCSC, Godfrey Baidoo-Tsibu, has been successfully recruited, and virtual trainings have been successfully held with select MCS Officers of FCWC Member States to familiarize them with system.
Kofi Taylor-Hayford, Communication Officer, FCWC/CPCO
