FAO.org

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) started delivering a new technical assistance programme (TCP/COI/3903) in the Union of the Comoros, which will see FAO train stakeholders involved in the agricultural, environmental and fisheries sectors, strengthening institutional capacities to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The Ministry in charge of fisheries in the Comoros had requested assistance from FAO to effectively implement the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) and complementary international instruments, and conservation and management measures to combat IUU fishing.

Through this new programme, FAO aims to provide technical support to strengthen the institutional capacities of the National Fisheries Control and Surveillance Centre (CNCSP), as well as those of different stakeholders in the fisheries sector in the Comoros. An annual plan has also been drawn up, amongst others to define the responsibilities, roles and implications of stakeholders and to adopt effective and efficient implementation strategies and tools.

This is not the first assistance provided by FAO to the Comoros. In August 2023, FAO organized a one-week workshop, funded by the European Union, on the participatory assessment of national capacities to systematically implement the necessary policy, legal and operational frameworks which resulted in the drafting of a national strategy and a roadmap for the implementation of international and regional instruments involved in the fight against IUU fishing.