West Africa: Capacity development for regional sustainable fisheries management at SRFC

Project Background

With the decline of marine fisheries resources in the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Mediterranean European fishing enterprises have been forced to diversify and extend their activities to the mid-Atlantic. Since the 1980’s, West African coastal states have benefited from this development. Their economies have enjoyed increasing foreign exchange earnings from the fishing sector. 

However, certain indicators proved that certain groups of shared stocks had been exploited to the maximum. Some stocks were declining, as evidenced by decreasing catch rates, and projections for the development of certain stocks were clearly negative. This trend was seen as a cause for concern, especially for regional economies, but also at global level. There was an immediate need for regionally harmonised fisheries policy, fisheries research, and MCS to conserve fisheries resources on a long-term, sustainable basis.

Objectives

The Sub-regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) was to be enabled to efficiently coordinate the harmonisation of the various approaches in the region for a sustainable utilisation of fishery resources. The respective national institutions of the SRFC member states (Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone) were to be enabled to offer highly capable services to their countries and the region in view of the long term preservation of marine resources and their sustainable management.

Activities and/or Results

Assistance to SRFC in the organisational reform process of the body through:

• Enhancing the internal reform process at the CSRP  
• Supporting the formulation of regional fishery management plans   
• Encouraging regional cooperation and coordination 
• Enhancing the dialogue and cooperation with international donor agencies
   

Capacity development and institutional strengthening of the SRFC and relevant national institutions of the fisheries administrations in the member countries provided for:

• Definition of priorities for the scientific evaluation of shared exploited stocks 
• Design and creation of a general information network
• Development and implementation of a specialised information system for the registration of licences of fishing vessels