Spcsrp | Sub regional Fisheries Commission

Context

The Partnership Agreement between WWF and the SRFC under the project “Governance, marine resources management policies and poverty reduction in the WAMER Eco-region (Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cabo Verde)” referred to as GoWAMER Project. The Agreement, effective since July 2013, will end in 2015.

Objective

The objective of the GoWAMER project is to contribute to reducing poverty and strengthening food security of coastal communities of the WAMER ecoregion.

The Partnership Agreement between the SRFC and WWF is primarily intended to coordinate the implementation of Activity 2.5 of the project; namely “support and/or initiate actions to fight  IUU fishing ”.

Expected results

The key expected result of the project’s Activity 2.5 is to strengthen co-operation and synergy of countries of the ecoregion in the fight against IUU fishing.  

Activities performed

Sub-regional fisheries surveillance campaign: “Operation STORM AT SEA”

The sub-regional fisheries surveillance campaign was co-financed by the projects (I) “Strengthening Sub-Regional Co-operation for the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) of fishing activities in the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC)” area and (II) “Governance, marine resources management policies and poverty reduction in the WAMER ecoregion (Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Cabo Verde)”. The campaign organized from 1^st to 5^th September 2013,took the form of a maritime surveillance operation and dock inspection activities in the industrial and artisanal fishing harbors of five (05) Member States (the Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone). 

The specific objectives of the campaign were to:

• ensure a deterrent presence in:
  • the EEZ of the five (05) concerned Member States, particularly in the border areas.
  • the industrial fishing ports and landing sites.

• test the capacities of MSC structures to cooperate between them and with the DSCSA
  • implement the 1993 convention on the right of hot pursuit and its protocol of implementation;
  • implement the FAO Agreement of 2009 on Port State Measures.

The following national resources were used to carry out the sub-regional campaign:

• Human resources
• Management staff;
• Fisheries inspectors;
• Fisheries observers;
• Radio and VMS operators.

Ground-based resources

• Operations rooms of MCS structures of the concerned MS;
• Vehicles and others.

Naval resources

• The Gambia: High-speed motorboat KUNTA KINTE
• Senegal: High-speed motorboat ALPHONSE FAYE
• Guinea: High-speed motorboat MOUSSAYA and one (01) 20 meter high-speed motorboat of the RPB 20 type;
• Guinea Bissau: High-speed motorboats BALEIA 4 and 5;
• Sierra Leone: High-speed motorboat “ISLE OF MAN”.   

In addition to the above-mentioned national means, the SRFC used:

• the PHM GUARDIAO of  Cabo Verde and LAC DE GUIERS of Senegal, chartered to back up the national means of Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone;
• a sub-regional coordination station (SRCS/PCSR) established at the National Fisheries Surveillance Center (CNSP) of Guinea and facilitated by officers in charge of operations of Member States' MCS structures, the CNSP support staff and the national navy of Guinea. 

The sub-regional campaign made it possible:

• to dock inspect 613 artisanal fishing boats and board 35 others for various reasons.
• to dock inspect 15 industrial fishing vessels
• to detect at sea 215 trawlers, identify 113, control 83 and board 02 others in the EEZ of Guinea, for mesh obstruction and non-compliant mesh size. 

National workshops to popularize participatory surveillance

The organization of national participatory workshops was generally intended to consolidate the fight against IUU fishing in the WAMER ecoregion by strengthening the capacities of stakeholders in the use of the device instituted for the surveillance of the protected coastal zones and marine protected areas (MPAs) of the maritime space under the jurisdiction of SRFC Member States.

The educational content of these national workshops were primarily based on the program of the regional workshop on participatory surveillance, held in Ouagadougou from 09 to 13 September, 2013 within the framework of ACP FISH 2.

The national workshops were held:

• from 09 to 13 December, 2014 in the Gambia,
• from 15 to 17 January, 2014 in Guinea Bissau,
• from 21 to 23 January, 2014 in Cabo Verde,
• from 28 to 31 January, 2014 in Senegal,
• from 25 to 27 February, 2014 in Guinea. 

Documents publicity campaign

Within the framework of the GoWamer Project, a campaign will be organized to publicize two strategic documents prepared within the framework of the SRFC/EU/UEMOA project.

• Document on permanent mechanisms for the funding of MCS activities in the SRFC area;
• Draft MCS convention to coordinate the above-mentioned activities.

This campaign, which will take the form of national workshops, will be launched on 26 May 2014, by Guinea Bissau.

Bilateral fisheries surveillance operations

There are also plans to organize two bilateral fisheries surveillance operations during the third quarter 2014.

MCS/Project lifespan

• ­ Presentation of the report on the strategic document on the sustainable financing of sub-regional MCS to Member States
• ­  Training session for Officials of Member States
•  Restitution of draft MCS convention