Spcsrp | Sub regional Fisheries Commission

The SRFC has developed a number of legal instruments governing the conditions of access and control of fishing activities:

Convention on the Determination of the Minimal Conditions for Access and Exploitation of Marine Resources within the maritime areas under the jurisdiction of the SRFC’s Member States (MAC Convention called revised) adopted on 8 June 2012 in Dakar, Senegal), effective since the 16 September 2012

The 2012 Convention on the Minimal Conditions for Access to Marine Resources (known as MCA Convention) revises the “Convention of 14^th July 1993 on the Determination of the Minimal Conditions for Access and Exploitation of Marine Resources within the Maritime Areas under Jurisdiction of the Member States of the SRFC”. It was adopted during the 13^th Extraordinary Session of the Conference of Ministers, (June 2012, Dakar, Senegal) to regulate the minimal access conditions for foreign vessels to marine resources of Member States of the SRFC. The 2012 Convention is innovative because it takes into account both: (i) the protection of artisanal fisheries; (Ii) the maritime safety and the protection of the marine environment; (iii) the 2001 International Action Plan to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing and the 2009 Agreement on Port State Measures; and iv) opportunities to enter the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for advisory opinions on legal matters within UNCLOS.. Download

Declarations of "Nouakchott 20 September 2001"  and "Dakar 28 March 2014" on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing

These Declarations, adopted by the Conference of Ministers of the SRFC, are strong political commitment to the international community to sensitize it to the efforts made by the Member States of the SRFC to fight IUU fishing and sustainably preserve fisheries resources of the sub-region.  They capture the essence of international texts on IUU fishing and require the mobilization of all human, material, technical and financial resources for the cooperation between the Member States in the fight against IUU fishing in the SRFC area.

• Download the Nouakchott 2001 Declaration

Convention on sub-regional cooperation in the exercise of maritime hot pursuit and its Protocol regarding the practical modalities for the coordination of surveillance activities in the Member States of the SRFC, both adopted on 1^st September 1993 in Conakry, Guinea

The 1993 Convention and its Protocol provides terms and modalities of the strengthening cooperation between MCS units of Member States and define the general principles governing the right of hot pursuit exercised toward any vessel operating in the waters under the jurisdiction of a member state and who after fruitless summons, attempts to evade inspection by an aircraft or a patrol vessel of the State. They are an application by the sub-region of the Article 111 of the UNCLOS.

• Convention on sub-regional cooperation in the exercise of maritime hot pursuit right. Download
• Protocol on the practical modalities of coordinating surveillance operations in the Member States of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission. Download