The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) through its West Africa Task Force’s (WATF) working group held a National Working Group meeting in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire from 20 – 21 February 2019.
The meeting brought fisheries representatives together with the Port Authority, the Interministerial Secretariat for Action of the State at Sea, the Ivorian Antipollution Center, the Maritime Affairs, Customs, the Navy, the Air Force representatives, and the WATF Technical Team (WATF TT) – Trygg Mat Tracking and Stop Illegal Fishing – to update one another on the status of inter-agency activities held during the past year and review ways to improved collaboration between the agencies. Even though the formalisation process of the interagency cooperation through the uptake of a ministerial decree was delayed due to the change of minister, agencies still worked together to conduct activities that help fight IUU fishing.
The core outcome of the meeting is that the agencies present accepted the WATF TT terms of reference for support on port control and inspection of reefers, and the implementation of the PSMA. A training on reefer inspection is scheduled for June 2020.
