This year, SWIOFC celebrates its 10th anniversary since its first session

FAO Mozambique is happy to announce the relocation of the Secretariat of the Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission (SWIOFC) from Zimbabwe to Mozambique. Established in 2004, the main objectives of the Commission are to promote the sustainable utilization of the living marine resources of the South West Indian Ocean region by their proper management and development of living marine resources without prejudice to the sovereign rights of coastal States, as well as to address common problems of fisheries management and development faced by the Members of the Commission.

We chatted to SWIOFC Secretary Aubrey Harris to find out more about what this move means for SWIOFC, and for Mozambique as its new host and one of its twelve member states.

FAO Mozambique (FAOMZ): You have been the Secretary of SWIOFC since its establishment in 2004. What major challenges have you experienced during this time?

Aubrey Harris (AH): Numerous, of course, because it has been ten years since its first session in 2005. The overall challenge has been to keep the Commission functioning as a high level fisheries management and development forum, relevant to the members on a limited budget and with a part-time Secretariat.

Consequent major challenges have been to ensure that the members drive the process and are able to raise issues that are of relevance to them at the sessions and between them. The members are encouraged to carve a role for the Commission in relation to large regional fisheries projects. The SWIOFC membership primarily consists of developing countries, five of which are Least Developed Countries (LDCs). They have difficulty in attending the sessions of the Commission without external assistance. The challenge has been to assist their participation through innovative means. The Secretary has also to attend to other FAO fisheries matters in Southern Africa, and the challenge has been to balance these against the requirements of the Commission.

FAOMZ: What about major successes you have enjoyed?

AH: SWIOFC has had a series of Chairpersons who have driven the Commission in strategic directions appropriate for the time, as well as active Bureaus that have maintained the interest of members and the Commission.

One of the main achievements has been the Commission's ever expanding scope of work. SWIOFC parties have been working on statistics, demersal fish, small pelagics, prawns, and more recently on collaboration and cooperation in tuna fisheries, which have been set up to respond to member needs. Collaboration has been crucial to the success of SWIOFC, with partners and regional fisheries projects such as the Swedish International Development Cooperation (SIDA), the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Project (SWIOFP), the EAF-Nansen Project, the Smartfish Project, the World Bank, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and more recently the SWIOfish Project leveraging the work programme and activities of the Commission. The Commission's Scientific Committee has monitored the status of stocks over time and allowed comparison between the South West Indian Ocean and the status of stocks globally. It has spawned training courses and workshops on the ecosystem approach to fisheries, stock assessment, bycatch, fishing impacts on turtles, safety at sea, and the 'weight of evidence' approach. SWIOFC was also one of the first FAO Article VI fisheries bodies to have an external review. This served as a means of taking stock of the members needs and aspirations.

The participation of members in Commission sessions and its Scientific Committee has remained consistently high, averaging 85 percent. Numbers of participants and observers present at meetings have gradually increased, indicating the interest in the Commission. As a further sign of engagement, Mozambique - with the unanimous support of members - offered to host the Secretariat in 2012. The Secretariat has now been moved from the Subregional Office of FAO in Harare, Zimbabwe, to Maputo, Mozambique.

FAOMZ: Does the hosting of the Secretariat by Mozambique bring any significant changes?

AH: Yes, members are expecting changes. They are expecting to have a stronger Commission, in part with the support of related new projects such as SWIOfish, in part with the contribution of two technical officers to the Secretariat by Mozambique, but mainly by a more active and visible Commission. For this purpose the Rules of Procedure of SWIOFC has been revised to allow the Bureau and members to play a more active role in the work of the Commission, and importantly the Commission will be in a position to have a trust fund and a budget for its activities.

FAOMZ: Regarding its waters and fisheries as well as its current policies, how is the situation in the south west Indian Ocean region looking?

AH: Monitoring by the Scientific Committee shows that almost all countries have much to do to ensure that their fish stocks are not overfished – all countries have stocks that are overfished and require rehabilitation.

In relation to the ecosystem approach to fisheries, there has been some improvement over the last three years and the region ranks favourably against other areas in Africa, but there is still much to do. Particular areas needing improvement include understanding ecosystem impacts, impacts on target and non-target species included in management advice, economic wellbeing maintained, a transparent and participatory management authority, sufficient capacity and accurate data and procedures. Increasingly, the fisheries of the region need to be aware of the other impacts from oil and gas mining, coastal development and climate change.

The coastal countries of the south west Indian Ocean also have long-term interests in standing strongly together so as to extract increased benefits from their fisheries, particularly in relation to tuna and tuna-like species. Their policies, requirements for fishing access and licensing need to be harmonized. Illegal, unreported and unlicensed (IUU) fisheries both from alien as well as national fishers are a cause of significant losses of revenue and over exploitation. Countries have to harmonize their approach to IUU with improved and regionally coordinated monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS).

FAOMZ: What about Mozambique?

AH: Mozambique is very active in seeking to protect its long term fisheries interests and sustainably managing its sea, as well as its inland fisheries resources. Its current main challenges are the re-organization of its performing fisheries institutions so as to better respond to the new national imperatives, to develop a tuna fishery in an effective manner that eventually benefits its national budget, and to understand the artisanal sector of its prawn fishery and provide policies and regulations that will rehabilitate this fishery.

FAOMZ: Any advice for fishermen here on how best to fish sustainably?

AH: Fish responsibly and do not use destructive gear. Join and mobilize your local fisher association. Urge it to lobby for the protection of your local market and for the development of export markets, and represent your interests well in the management plan of your fishery.

SWIOFC is composed of such Members and Associate Members of FAO that are coastal States, whose territories are situated wholly or partly within the area of the Commission. Currently, it has twelve Members: Comoros, France, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, and Yemen.