By Mamadou Edrisa Njie
The Ministerial Conference on Fisheries Cooperation Among African States Bordering the Atlantic Ocean (ATLAFCO/COMHAFAT English & French acronyms, respectively) comprising 22 Member States, aims to become a Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO); in order to give greater scope and binding force to its actions.
If the process is approved by the competent authorities, ATLAFCO would no longer be simply a “cooperation body” but a “regional organization” whose resolutions would be binding on the Parties concerned.
An international call for expressions of interest was launched in January 2019, for a study on the relevance and practical modalities of this evolution; after the tender, a firm has been retained and it has a period of six months (November 2019) to make its recommendations.
The stakes have been placed very high. As it stands, ATLAFCO’s role remains essentially “consultative” or “incentive-driven”, through adhoc actions or opinions and recommendations, which Member States are free to apply or not (while they themselves are concerned about a more rigorous management of marine resources at the regional level).
With the transition to the status of an ORGP, ATLAFCO would then have the power to set measures of protection and management of the fishery (catch limits, technical measures, enforcement), to better meet the requirements of international fishing instruments, with a view to ensuring optimal and sustainable long-term exploitation of fish stocks in its area of responsibility. And stakeholders will be expected to carry out these measures.
ATLAFCO is a regional cooperation body, whose creation was prompted by the recognition of the importance of fishing activities of coastal communities in all the countries along the African Atlantic coast. Regional fisheries cooperation was needed to boost the economy of these countries, and to combat illegal fishing.
The regional body was created in 1989 and is the only regional cooperation organization dedicated to the fisheries sector in Africa with 22 states, from Morocco to Namibia. The institution encompasses countries of diverse customs and languages, in a common struggle for the sustainable management of the African continent’s fisheries resources.
Member States of ATLAFCO are as follows: 1. Angola 2. Benin 3. Cape Verde 4. Cameroon 5. Cote Ivory 6. Congo 7. DR Congo 8. Gabon 9. The Gambia 10. Ghana 11. Guinea Conakry 12. Guinea Bissau 13. Equatorial Guinea 14. Liberia 15. Morocco 16. Mauritania 17. Namibia 18. Nigeria 19. SAO Tome and Prince 20. Senegal 21. Sierra Leone 22. Togo
