OUR INITIATIVES
Joint Analytical Cell
The Joint Analytical Cell is an initiative that aims to provide authorities with fisheries intelligence, analysis and capacity building to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The collaboration brings together various stakeholders to build key insights and capacity that will help enhance fisheries management.
The Joint Analytical Cell harnesses innovative technology and the complementary expertise of its wider collaborating organizations to improve the effectiveness of fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance, with a particular focus on developing maritime States.
Founded in 2022 by the International Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Network, Global Fishing Watch and TMT, additional members include Skylight and C4ADS.
WEST AFRICA TASK FORCE
The West Africa Task Force brings together the six member countries of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo – to tackle illegal fishing and fisheries crime. The Task Force is facilitated by the FCWC Secretariat in collaboration with a Technical Team that includes TMT and Stop Illegal Fishing with funding from Norad. By actively cooperating, by sharing information and by facilitating national inter-agency working groups the West Africa Task Force is working together to end illegal fishing.
REGIONAL COOPERATION IN EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
FISH-i Africa was established in 2012 to unite eight East African coastal countries to tackle illegal fishing in their waters. The Western Indian Ocean is home to plentiful fish resources that provide jobs, support local economies and represent an important food source for the region and globally. However, it is also an IUU fishing hotspot that draws illegal operators from across the world.
Eight countries – Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania – joined forces to tackle this problem, together with Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF) and TMT. In 2020, FISH-i Africa was integrated into the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC), which continues to be supported by SIF and TMT.
Intelligence-led fisheries
port controls
Entered into force in 2016, the Port State Measure Agreement (PSMA), is the first legally binding international agreement designed to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing.
TMT and Global Fishing Watch have developed a dedicated programme to support the practical implementation of the PSMA by introducing new tools and methods and providing capacity building to national authorities.
The ‘Intelligence-led fisheries port controls’ programme, promotes a risk-based approach to PSMA implementation and focuses primarily on the Advance Request for Entry to Port (AREP) process, which is the cornerstone of the Agreement.