CAOPA answered a questionnaire on an assessment of the fishery sector in the ECOWAS region, proposed by AU regarding the process of a definition of a common fisheries policy, the subject of which being “Contribution of the African confederation of artisanal fishing organizations”, on the 24th of August 2012.
The questionnaire identifies the main strategic issues for capture fisheries and aquaculture in the region and the main challenges and opportunities for these sectors, such as maintaining coastal communities livelihoods, food security and concerted management of the coastal area/fisheries co-management.
The lack of transparency in policies is a key issue, since it threatens the exploitation of resources. Indeed, “transparency in this regard must become the rule and must be the basis for an informed participation of the stakeholders, in particular artisanal fishing communities. Greater transparency is also an important tool in the fight against IUU fishing, which is thriving when the opacity and corruption reign”.
Besides, an analysis on the current human and institutional capacities in the region is proposed. The strengths and weaknesses, challenges and opportunities for the sectors, namely marine fisheries, inland fisheries and aquaculture in the region are highlighted: “Strategies and policies should also be developed to enable artisanal fisheries, which currently target mainly coastal resources, often overfished, to develop offshore artisanal fisheries, for example for tuna species, so that our countries can derive more benefits from offshore fisheries”.
An examination of the level of the existing cooperation between the regional economic communities and regional fisheries organizations in the region is provided and some propositions to strengthen cooperation and collaboration are made.
Moreover, “Artisanal fisheries professionals must be recognized as primary stakeholder by decision makers”. The role of civil society and media is also stressed to be important in the management process.
The fact that there are weaknesses in the implementation of the Code of conduct of the FAO for responsible fishing and other relevant documents in the region or the country is also emphasized.
And finally, some cross border issues in the management of fisheries and the environment in the region are indicated.