The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), working alongside its technical partner Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT) under the West Africa Task Force, convened a two-day meeting of Togo's National Working Group (NWG) on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing from 27 to 28 July 2026 in Lomé. Established in 2016 as an inter-agency platform for coordinating fisheries monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) among national administrations, the NWG has spent the past decade playing a central role in strengthening Togo's response to IUU fishing and related crimes. This latest meeting gave participants an opportunity to review inter-agency cooperation, assess the effectiveness of existing coordination mechanisms, and identify lessons learned and measures to strengthen collaboration going forward. Participants included representatives from the Directorate of Fisheries, Interpol, Immigration, the Togolese Navy, Customs, Maritime Authority and the Marine Police.
A key focus of the meeting was an update on the establishment and pilot phase of the Regional Record of Authorised Fishing Vessels (RRAFV), a regional database designed to enhance transparency, improve compliance, and support sustainable fisheries management. Discussions centred on how Togo can both contribute to and benefit from the register.
The meeting also examined the work of the FCWC Regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Centre (RMCSC), which serves as a regional hub for fisheries intelligence and operational coordination. The centre produces intelligence reports, conducts due diligence on vessels, and supports member states in monitoring fishing activity across the region. Togo's Fisheries Monitoring Centre (FMC) presented its available Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) tools, including the regional Seasight platform, and demonstrated their operational use. The session also covered new work routines adopted by the FMC to improve monitoring efficiency, along with updates on transponder integration and the centres growing capability to interface directly with the RMCSC. Together, these developments underscore progress in strengthening Togo's national surveillance capacity and fostering seamless data exchange between national and regional systems. This was followed by an interactive working session in which participants assessed the human, institutional, and infrastructure capacities of Togo's FMC. The findings from this assessment will help refine operational procedures, clarify roles and responsibilities, and identify the information requirements needed to strengthen fisheries inspections and enforcement.
A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to reviewing progress on implementing the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), which Togo ratified in 2016. Participants examined developments in processing Advance Requests to Enter Port (AREP) and conducting port inspections, and were presented with findings from the Lomé Port Profile, an analysis of foreign fishing vessel traffic to the port that will help identify key IUU risks and inform inspection planning. Discussions also explored opportunities for unfreezing foreign fishing licenses based on improved risk assessments, training on Vessel Viewer, an open-source application that allows inspectors to quickly verify vessel identity and operational details.
The meeting reflected the continued commitment of FCWC member states to strengthening both national and regional cooperation in the fight against IUU fishing, reinforcing Togo's role in the wider regional effort to safeguard the Gulf of Guinea's fisheries resources.
Lome, Togo | 27–28 July 2026
