Photo: ©FAO/Rosetta Messori

7 October 2019, Maldives - The Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC) has just completed the work of its 10th Session. The meeting was hosted by the Republic of Maldives. For the first time since the SWIOFC was established in 2005, all 12 Member Countries attended the Session, namely Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen. The meeting, organized in collaboration with SWIOFish1 Project and WWF, was preceded on 29 and 30 September by the 9th SWIOFC Working Party on Collaboration and Cooperation in Tuna Fisheries (WPCCTF) and the Steering Committees of the World Bank SWIOFish1 Project and of the EAF-Nansen Program in the Southwest Indian Ocean.

The meeting was opened by Ms. Zaha Waheed, Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture, Republic of Maldives, who declared that the Government of Maldives is engaged in strengthening ties of regional collaboration in the fisheries sector. She highlighted the importance of marine fisheries in the whole Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) region: “Fisheries are extremely important for our coastal countries, not only because it is important sector for the economy but also because of its importance to sustain the livelihoods of our coastal communities in all countries”. According to Mrs Wheed, in Maldives more than 20% of the total labour force is employed in the fisheries sector and the country is the highest per capita consumer of fish at a global level.

On behalf of Alain Onibon, Subregional Coordinator of the FAO Subregional Office for Southern Africa (SFS) and of Mr. Xuebing Sun, FAO Representative in Sri Lanka and Maldives, Mr Luca Garibaldi, SWIOFC Secretary said that, "The Commission encourages, advises and supports concrete actions to address the challenges that sustainable fisheries management is facing in the SWIO region. The growing population of the region is increasingly dependent on over-exploited resource and the livelihoods of fishing communities are among the most insecure and vulnerable".

The Scientific Committee report addressed matters related to the assessment of the status of the stocks of interest. A total of 110 stocks were examined, but for only 86 enough information was reported to classify their status. Among these, 44% of the fish stocks were considered as overexploited. However, this figure should be considered carefully as the Member Countries tend to concentrate their efforts on assessing the status of the stocks that are somehow already perceived as of some concern, and therefore there may be an over-representation of stocks in a bad status.

The Commission also discussed on the status of specific resources of concern, such as the sea cucumber, that all countries reported as overexploited and that was recognized as a very peculiar fisheries given that there is no local consumption and all catches are exported. The SWIOFC then requested the Scientific Committee to carry out a comprehensive study on the comparison of the management measures and plans adopted by Member Countries for sea cucumber fisheries.

The way forward for the implementation of the Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTC) Guidelines, that had been formally adopted by all Member Countries since February 2019, was also discussed following the report of the discussion occurred at the earlier meeting of the WPCCTF.

The commission was also informed of two new sizeable projects that have started this years in the region, namely a 5-year collaborative project between the SWIOFC and the Nairobi Convention to reconcile fisheries and conservation management objectives, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to (SIDA); and the Ecofish Programme funded by the European Union. These two projects will provide opportunities at the national and regional levels towards sustainable management of fisheries and of the marine environment with enhanced policy and institutional frameworks.

Finally, the Commission discussed the possible establishment of a Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Framework Agreement (SWIO FFA) and three options for a possible financing mechanism of the SWIOFC. As both these institutional changes would need political decision and entails financial implications, the Commission agreed that all Member Countries would carry out an internal consultation on both the establishment of the SWIO FFA and the possible scheme of contribution that was agreed and inform the SWIOFC Secretariat of the national decision within the next four months.