Workshop strengthens fight against illegal fishing activities

Capacity building for Namibian MCS officers

NAMIBIA: Held at the end of last month, a four-day workshop aimed to strengthen the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing through training and capacity building.

Namibia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries Water and Land Reform (MAFWLR) hosted the first national training event for monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) officers to reinforce knowledge of procedures for risk assessments and inspections, as well as build capacity to undertake investigations and prosecute offenders.

The training included practical training for evidence collection during an inspection exercise on board a fishing vessel, as well as taking statements and preparing for court.

The workshop was initiated as part of a Monitoring Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre’s (MCSCC) project that was launched to focus on strengthening Atlantic coastal states in the SADC region.

“Thanks to SADC Atlantic, Namibia has set very high standards, aligning with both regional and global efforts, and has been making valuable contributions to regional policy processes,” said Dr Stanley Ndara, Chair of the SADC MCSCC.

The Project seeks to target the specific needs of each country, whilst contributing to the broader goals of the SADC and the Benguela Current Convention (BCC) and aligns to promote sustainable aquatic food systems as well as good and inclusive governance.

It also seeks to strengthen dialogue between small-scale fisheries actors and MCS officers. “We would like to know who our small-scale fishers are in Namibia, and to define them in the law,” said Hafeni Mungungu, Director for Fisheries Law Enforcement at the MAFWLR, explaining that, as long as the Marine Living Resource Act (MLRA) fails to define small-scale fisheries, these actors are perceived as illegal operators.

This workshop highlighted the need to organise sensitisation sessions between both small-scale fishers and MCS officers, to enhance awareness of MCS officers about small-scale fisheries, and to support bilateral dialogue.

This Project will consolidate national capacity for risk assessment of fishing vessels, building national operations procedures (SOPs) which will serve as lessons learnt for a SADC harmonised approach, in line with the objectives of the MCSCC.

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