Workshop in Comoros to assist the country in improving its efforts to combat IUU fishing
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Government of the Union of the Comoros, has delivered a weeklong workshop in the country to assist the Comoros in improving its capacity to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The workshop, held between the 28 August and 1 September, addressed the systematic implementation of political and legal frameworks, and monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) operations, through a participatory assessment of capacities and needs.
The participatory event contributed to increase awareness about the international and regional responsibilities of the port State, flag State, coastal State, market related measures, and the need to have appropriate policies, legal frameworks, procedures, and systems that reflect such responsibilities.
The workshop served for national agencies involved in the fight against IUU fishing to agree on key elements for a national strategy and roadmap to implement the necessary measures consistent with the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) and complementary international instruments to combat IUU fishing, and to identify capacity building and training needs for the implementation of the PSMA.
Speaking at the concluding session, the Head of Office of the European Union, Mr Pierre Beziz, thanked FAO for its quick action supporting Comoros and organizing the workshop, which in his words, ‘is essential to enable Comoros to effectively combat IUU fishing’.
Mr. Aloys Nizigiyimana, Deputy FAO Representative for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles, stressed the commitment of FAO to assist the government of Comoros to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing.
The closure of the workshop was delivered by the Hon. M. Houmed M’Saidie, Minister responsible for Fisheries in Comoros,who added that ‘the Comorian government has made this crucial issue of combating IUU fishing a national priority, as can be noted with the ratification of the PSMA, the revision of the Fisheries Code to strengthen the sanctions regime, by our determination to operationalize the fisheries surveillance centre, the strengthening of bilateral and multilateral cooperation and, above all, the desire to effectively manage the national register of vessels’.
Several officers from the Fisheries Ministry, the Transport Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the Employment Ministry participated in the week-long workshop together with representatives from the General Directorate of Fisheries Resources, the National Agency for Maritime Affairs, the national MCS centre, customs, port authorities, representatives of the National Office for Quality Control and Certification of Fishery Products, representatives of the judicial entities, and other national experts involved in combatting IUU fishing.
The Comoros workshop was held under the project GCP/GLO/447/EC, funded by the European Union.