October 2015 - Sandy Davies (Technical Director) and Kristin von Kistowski (Senior Adviser) attended the first meeting of the IOFMC Fisheries Pillar in the Seychelles on 20th and 21st of October 2015. The Seychelles Minister for fisheries opened the meeting introducing the IOFMC 6 thematic pillars and welcomed the effort to concentrate on fisheries crime. This meeting was an interesting regionally focused follow-on from the global FishCRIME symposium the week before in Cape Town. Sandy presented the work of FISH-i Africa and in particular focused, with practical examples, on how the operational work of fisheries inspectors and officials often provides the catalyst for cases that may lead to prosecutions for violations against fisheries management regimes or broader transnational crimes – but that at the start of the investigation the outcome is unknown. The importance of information sharing, cross-checking of information, political support and the use of technology were stressed as key challenges to fighting crimes in fisheries.
