The Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem (CCLME) provides vital food and economic resources to coastal populations bordering the Large Marine Ecosystem (LME), and also to other of Western Africa. It has one of the highest fisheries productions among the African large marine ecosystems and the coastal zone also provides critical fish habitat, wood from mangrove and coastal and marine space for agriculture, aquaculture, urban development, tourism and transport. The CCLME project is unique in its strategic combination of fisheries and ecosystem governance frameworks.

The project aims to enable the participating countries to address priority transboundary concerns on declining fisheries, associated biodiversity and water quality through governance reforms, investments and management programs. It will foster cooperation among project countries and contribute to a strengthened monitoring of the status of the CCLME that is based on sound science. The seven countries (Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Morocco and Senegal) are all committed to working together in the CCLME project to address the degradation of the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem caused by over-fishing, habitat modification and changes in water quality by adoption of an ecosystem approach.