Africa-Press – Liberia. In an effort to empower more communities to manage fisheries resources sustainably, the European Union (EU)-funded Communities for Fisheries project implemented by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), in collaboration with the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA), recently completed a three-day Monitoring, Control, & Surveillance (MCS) training for the Collaborative Management Association (CMA) of Grand Bassa County with support from the Liberia National Coast Guard.
The training is one of a series conducted over the past months by the project, which aims to capacitate the CMAs to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities to safeguard the sustainability of the country’s territorial waters.
Illegal fishing impacts Liberia’s fisheries sector, undermining Liberians’ livelihood and food security. Therefore, EJF is working with the local fishing communities by organizing and strengthening the CMAs to actively become frontliners and safeguard the ocean by patrolling their territories and reporting illegal fishing activities.
The MCS training consisted of a one-day presentation and a two-day at-sea demonstration conducted by the staff of EJF, NaFAA, and the Liberia National Coast Guard. Twelve local fishermen were taught to conduct at-sea patrols, lead rescue missions, and monitor for IUU fishing.
The practical knowledge from the training will enable the fishermen to assist the NaFAA in monitoring the Inshore Exclusion Zone reserved for small-scale fishers. They will ensure that fishermen use NaFAA-approved fishing methods and gears, report intrusion by industrial vessels, and conduct rescue missions in case of accidents or if a fisherman gets lost at sea.
The Communities for Fisheries is a five-year project funded by the European Union that is implemented in four coastal counties in Liberia: Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, Margibi, and Grand Kru.
According to the Programme Officer of EJF, Augustine Fayiah, the training of the CMA’s committee members is part of EJF’s mission to promote sustainable and transparent fisheries through the CMAs.
He said the recent training in Grand Bassa County is part of a series of trainings that have been conducted for the seven CMAs established with support from EJF.
“We have just completed training for a committee of the CMA to empower them to monitor illegal fishing that is taking place in the six nautical miles. We trained the members of the CMA to protect the local resources that sustain them by monitoring and reporting IUU fishing activities,” he said.
Fayiah said illegal fishing poses a serious problem for fishing communities, so EJF supports NaFAA and the CMAs in combating this crime.
“We are providing these training sessions for seven CMAs in four counties. We are training more committee members of the CMA to be able to monitor and report illegal fishing activities,” he said.
EJF staff said that training is participatory and designed to empower fishers within the various fishing communities.
Fayiah concluded by thanking the European Union for their continuous support to the Liberian people.
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