Strengthening regional collaboration and cooperation for sustainable fisheries for the benefit of the Southwest Indian Ocean region
Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) Region advancing sustainable fisheries meets to build a common and harmonized strategy for the sustainable management of tuna and other highly migratory resources through the regular assessment monitoring mechanism
2 November 2021 – The sustainability of tuna fishery management and development is critical to the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIO) region to ensure countries can access and obtain value from the fishery. The assessment is a dynamic tool for use by SWIO countries members to gauge and map their progress and challenges in implementing the Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTC). The Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC) member states held a three-day virtual meeting to look at harmonizing management of tuna fisheries and other highly migratory resources in the region.
The meeting, held from 13 to 15 October 2021, is the Twelfth convention of the Working Party for Collaboration and Cooperation in Tuna Fisheries (WPCCTF). Twelve of the members states attended the three-day meeting as observers.
The opening remarks of the meeting were presented by Mr. Vasco Schmidt, Secretary a.i of the SWIOFC. In his remarks, he highlighted that the importance of the meeting and the work done by the MTC task force following up the request and recommendations of the last SWIOFC session held in August 2021. The official opening was done by Mr. Galhardo Naene, Head of Licencing Department in the National Fisheries Administration in the Ministry of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries of Mozambique, on behalf of Director Felismina Antia, the Vice-Chair of the WPCCTF.
Mr. Galhardo Naene, speaking on behalf of Ms. Felismina Antia, the Vice-Chair of the WPCCTF, underlined the importance of greater cooperation and collaboration amongst member states as essential key to reap the social and economic benefits through the implementation of the Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTC) at a regional level. “As you are probably aware, the larger proportion of tuna resource in the SWIO region are caught by the industrial fleet, of which a majority is foreign vessels fishing in the SWIOFC region," said Mr. Naene.
The working party received pertinent outcomes of the eleventh Session of the Commission held in August 2021, through the working document presented by the Secretariat summarizing the recommendations to implement the monitoring and evaluation mechanism and to start implementing the detailed plan for the MTC Guidelines and the decision made by SWIOFC members regarding to the start of negotiation for a possible establishment of the Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Framework Agreement (SWIO-FFA.)
The members states expressed their commitment on implementation of the MTC Guidelines with consultations finalized and on-going; improved coordination and compliance to IOTC Conservation and Management Measures and on the ratification of the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA).
The Working Party for Collaboration and Cooperation in Tuna Fisheries (WPCCTF), alongside with other programmes and organizations, such as Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Ecofish Project, SADC among others is committed to improve cooperation and coordination to jointly address Monitoring Control and Surveillance (MCS) of fishing activity, deter and mitigate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) and support sustainable tuna fisheries, for the best interest of the SWIOFC region.
The WPCCTF is a forum for member countries to build a common, harmonized vision and strategy for the sustainable management of tuna and other highly migratory resources in order to optimize the social and economic benefits that accrue to their peoples and the sub region. This working party has over the years proven an effective instrument to deal with issues related to tuna fisheries of the SWIO region. A recent milestone was the Minimum Terms and Conditions for Foreign Fisheries Access in the SWIOFC (MTC Guidelines) region adopted by all member countries in February 2019, http://www.fao.org/3/ca9747b/ca9747b.pdf.
The twelve member counties, namely, Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, and the United Republic of Tanzania. ECOFISH project, Europe Union, Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), SWIOFC - Nairobi Convention Partnership Project, Southern African Development Community (SADC), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), Nordenfjeldske Development Services (NFDS) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), attended the three-day meeting as observers.