The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) is holding its 14th Session of the Conference of Ministers meeting from 11 – 13 January 2023 in Accra to Advance Regional Fisheries Cooperation.
The Ministers of the six FCWC Member States including Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Togo or their representatives are expected to attend this year’s meeting organized on the theme “Supporting effective fisheries management for a sustainable blue economy.”
The Ministerial Conference on the 13 January 2023 will be preceded by a two-day Advisory and Consultative Committee session (ACC) on 11 & 12 January 2023, that convenes the Directors of fisheries Ministries and the Heads of monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) to deliberate on the theme, review working documents and prepare the recommendations for the Ministers to adopt.
“The FCWC is prioritizing effective fisheries management and the improved implementation of fisheries management plans to achieve sustainable blue growth. This meeting will provide the opportunity to discuss the fisheries management processes and cycles, to review the regional fisheries management plan, and identify priority actions to operationalize it,” said FCWC Secretary-General, Seraphin Dedi.
Key discussions this year will include the FCWC structure and its financing mechanisms; the one-year extension of the Norad funding to the West Africa Task Force implemented in cooperation with TMT and Stop Illegal Fishing; a review of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the regional observer programs and the Regional Monitoring Control and Surveillance Centre (RMCSC); a review of the regional fisheries management plan; and the adoption of a regional closed season.
Background
The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) is an intergovernmental body established in 2007, with a Secretariat hosted in Tema, Ghana.
The FCWC facilitates cooperation in fisheries management between its member countries: Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria.
The countries have several shared FCWC facilitates cooperation in fisheries management between its member countries. The countries have several shared fish stocks and identified the need for cooperation and shared management of these resources.
