Madagascar: MCS capacity-building workshop & sensitisation event.

April 2025 — Per Erik Bergh (CEO and Managing Director), Andréa Durighello (Fisheries Expert) and Jean-Louis Rabe (MCS Expert) travelled to Diégo-Suarez/Antsiranana, one of Madagascar’s six designated ports under the PSMA, for an initial risk assessment training as part of the project Oceans Vigilance. They were joined by Stig T Fjellberg, Senior analyst of SIF’s partner organisation TMT, and Dr. Alex Shula Kefi, from the SADC Secretariat.

This training was co-organised with WWF Madagascar and the local organisation Fitsinjo, a network formed by various NGOs in Madagascar who have come together to create a fisheries observatory, with the aim to support the Fisheries Monitoring Centre (Centre de Surveillance des Pêches, CSP) in conducting their MCS activities.

The training combined a regional and a national dimension, sensitising the participants on the importance of regional cooperation through the MCSCC to combat IUU fishing, and providing them with tools to strengthen their MCS capacities, in particular on conducting risk assessments and inspections of fishing vessels.

The methodology introduced during the training is part of the toolkit of the MCSCC. By integrating them in their work practices, MCS officers in Madagascar contribute to the objective of the MCSCC to harmonise MCS procedures throughout the region. The risk assessment tool of the MCSCC is envisioned to become a pillar of the Regional Register of Fishing Vessels (RRFV), which Madagascar is committed to establish. “IUU fishing is a global issue, Madagascar cannot do it alone. The Regional Register is the only way for us to make the difference between those who abide by our rules and those who violate them deliberately. This is our opportunity to ensure that those who engage in IUU fishing activities are not authorised on our Regional Register. We need the whole region and all stakeholders to commit to that”, MPEB Minister MAHATANTE Tsimanaoraty Paubert said.

The Minister is ready to continue assuming leadership in the region to promote the Regional Register, as he showed again during a dialogue event organised at the MPEB on Madagascar’s commitments and actions through the fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) to combat IUU fishing.