IUUFishing : Risk Management training with EFCA

The European Fisheries Control Agency and the Indian Ocean Commission PRSP mechanism have initiated a cooperation a year ago to combat #IUUFishing in the South West Indian Ocean. A regional training have been organised with the 8 participating countries of the SWIO region.

Below a summary of the content
Level of Risk Management and assessment: Most countries have presented their activities and potential interest both at national and regional level. The first priority should be at this stage a common regional risk assessment, addressing priorities of common interest.

Scope of common regional risk assessment: It is important to define the priority fisheries that should be subject to a joint risk assessment. The preliminary discussions have identified tuna fisheries as a key priority, but other fisheries may also be considered (e.g. deep water shrimps, squid). Following to the agreement of priority fisheries, the main fisheries segments and priority threats should be defined.

Mechanism of cooperation: It is proposed that a technical committee / forum should be created to support risk management and assessment in the context of IOC. A specific mandate and terms of reference should be defined in this respect. Such committee should be involved in the regional risk assessment process, but also support the exchange of best practices and methodologies in risk assessment at national level.

Exchange of information and intelligence: A transparent exchange of information and intelligence is of paramount importance to derive a successful risk management and assessment. This can support both the regional risk assessment and the tactical risk assessment at national level.

It is important to recognize that at this stage there may be some parts of information missing. However, this should not stop that a first regional risk assessment exercise would take place, mostly based on intelligence and expertise of the different countries experts. Such risk assessment, would also help in identifying what information and data are currently available and to further define future needs.

Concluding remarks: It is recognised that regional risk assessment in the context of IOC is at an early stage. However, there is enough expertise and structures in place to make a first risk assessment exercise possible. A progressive approach should be established, allowing for an adaptive strategy and continuous improvements based on experience. EFCA is available to support this process.