EU and nine Western Indian Ocean countries launch €11 million programme to combat IUU fishing

The European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA), Expertise France and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) announced on 26 October the joint launch of a new initiative to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Western Indian Ocean region. The initiative is one of the first actions launched under the Sustainable Western Indian Ocean Programme (SWIOP).

SWIOP was established in June this year, runs for five years and has a total budget of €60.5 million (about US$67.9 million), with the goal of improving the region's blue economy, ocean resilience and ocean governance. The initiative launched on this occasion amounts to €11 million (about US$12.4 million) and is intended to improve surveillance, monitoring, information sharing and fisheries research in order to combat IUU fishing.

EFCA's contribution includes operational cooperation, support for patrols under the IOC's Regional Fisheries Surveillance Plan (PRSP), improvement of surveillance systems, and support for "stronger legislative and institutional frameworks". Expertise France's input will be used to improve data collection and scientific research on high seas and straddling fish stocks. The Indian Ocean Commission also plans to establish a regional fisheries surveillance, control, monitoring and observation centre.

EFCA Executive Director Susan Steele said in a press release: "IUU fishing damages ecosystems, and IUU fishing does not stop at borders. We can only tackle it through coordinated commitment and cooperation at regional level." She said EFCA was ready to bring its experience and expertise to SWIOP, and was excited by and committed to the programme's operational, "hands-on" approach pursued together with local partners.

IOC Secretary-General Ibrahim Norbert Richard said: "The fight against IUU fishing can only be effective if it is based on close, coordinated and sustainable cooperation among all stakeholders." He said fishing activities and vessel movements cross borders, so responses must be built on information sharing, operational coordination, capacity building and the pooling of expertise, which is precisely the purpose of the IOC's PRSP, and SWIOP will support it. He said that through the programme, the aim is to consolidate existing regional mechanisms, enhance member states' surveillance capacity, and strengthen operational cooperation among the various agencies involved in combating IUU fishing.

The countries participating in the programme include Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania.