July 2016 - Per Erik Bergh (MD) was in Accra, Ghana providing technical assistance at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Prosecution and Enforcement Workshop, arranged for the West Africa Task Force (WATF). A total of 38 Government officials attended the training from the six countries of the Task Force (Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria).
Training sessions were led by experts from NOAA and from the WATF Technical Team, including the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), NFDS and Trygg Mat Tracking. All presenters focused on providing background information on IUU fishing in the region and promoting inter-agency and regional coordination to combat IUU fishing. The wealth of experience in fisheries enforcement, prosecution, and management of participants contributed to the ability of the group as a whole to share information, experiences, and lessons learned on topics relevant to fisheries enforcement and prosecution in the region.
Per Erik Bergh welcomed the opportunity provided by the joint training “we value the support from NOAA in making this event possible. Training of this kind, which brings together fisheries enforcement officers with allied agencies will increase the likelihood of successful prosecutions for illegal fishing and fisheries crime”.
The WATF brings together the six member countries of the 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 and supported by a Technical Team that includes TMT, SIF and NFDS with funding from Norad.
