Midterm Review of the Project TMT Fisheries Intelligence and MCS Support in West Africa

The project “Fisheries Intelligence and MCS Support in West Africa” - hereafter called the Project - was developed by Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT) within a partnership with the Fisheries Committee of the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC).

The Project is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and is implemented by TMT, in close cooperation with and support from Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), NFDS (Nordenfjeldske Development Services) and both the Secretariat and Member States (Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Togo) of the FCWC.

The overall objective of the Project is to contribute to increased compliance with fisheries legal frameworks in the FCWC area. The approach underpinning the Project is innovative in West Africa with FCWC countries since it mainly rests on the sharing of intelligence and information to spur enforcement actions against illegal fishing operators. Other significant domains of actions include support to the development of cooperation in fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) and enforcement and to capacity building of enforcement agencies in the FCWC area.

The Project aims to build on existing legal and policy frameworks and other initiatives aimed at combatting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the FCWC area. The Project should be considered as a contribution to the regional initiative to stop illegal fishing in the FCWC area. Other national and regional efforts for improved fisheries MCS also contribute to this initiative.