General Observations
58. IUU fishing seriously undermined efforts to conserve and manage fish stocks in all capture fisheries. It was a growing problem, particularly in developing countries, both in marine and inland fisheries, especially because they had limited means to deal with it.
59. The Workshop provided a checklist of what was required to be done to combat IUU fishing. The Workshop raised the awareness of participants about the problem and highlighted the fact that countries are sovereign and it was up to them to decide for themselves what was best for their particular circumstances. The IPOA-IUU provided a framework which should be fairly easy for countries to follow in elaborating their NPOAs-IUU.
60. The Workshop gave useful advice and information to participants, some of whom had experienced difficulty in attending relevant UN meetings concerning IUU fishing. Information about such fishing is provided on the FAO website (http://www.fao.org/fi) and could be of great assistance.
61. There were several areas in combating IUU fishing which could be both inexpensive and effective as was highlighted in the problem-solving exercise undertaken in the Workshop. These included joining the International MCS Network, exchange of information among countries, enactment of legislation, etc.
62. The issue of subsidies and economic incentives and the way in which they could support IUU fishing was well understood. However, there remained a number of uncertainties about such incentives in terms of their use in small-scale fisheries.
63. There were many similarities between coastal and inland fisheries in terms of the problems they faced in combating IUU fishing (e.g., transshipment at sea and in inland waters, catch/statistics and other activities that undermine fisheries management). Lessons learnt from one fishery could be easily and usefully transferred to the other.
Proposed Follow-up Action
64. The Workshop proposed several follow-up actions by countries, FAO and other international agencies, as appropriate, to further support the elaboration and implementation of NPOAs-IUU in southern and east Africa. These actions were:
To develop a technical guideline to support the implementation of the IPOA-IUU in inland fisheries.
To provide a separate questionnaire for inland fisheries in future relating to the implementation of the IPOA-IUU.
To defer consideration of the issue of economic incentives in subsistence/artisanal/small-scale fisheries as they pertain to the implementation of the IPOA/IUU until FAO had completed its current work on economic incentives in fisheries.
To enhance or institute systems of national vessel registration and maintain national records of registered vessels for all semi-industrial and industrial fishing vessels operating in marine and inland fisheries in the region. This registration process should be seen as a minimum requirement and countries are encouraged to register all fishing vessels.
To translate the two simple-language documents "What is the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries" and "Stopping Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing" into major languages of the region;
To consider additional regional workshops for the elaboration of NPOAs-Sharks and NPOAs-Capacity.
To encourage countries to consider the benefits of membership of the International MCS Network and similar networks in combating IUU fishing.
