38 inspectors benefit from FAO training in Madagascar
Thirty-five recently qualified inspectors and three experienced inspectors from the Fisheries Surveillance Centre of Madagascar benefitted from a training course, provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as part of a mission aimed at strengthening the capacity of port inspectors as the country implements the FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA).
The mission, held between 10 to 19 July 2024, saw an expert from FAO deliver a course to the recently qualified inspectors and, in parallel to three experienced inspectors in a ‘train the trainer’ approach. The mission, funded by the Federal Government of Germany, under the GCP/GLO/1047/GER project, was delivered as part of the FAO Global Capacity development programme.
This training, based on the modular FAO fisheries training programme in support of the implementation of international instruments, complies with the requirements of the PSMA and in particular with the guidelines for the training of inspectors as per Annex E of the PSMA. The training focused on the presentation of the fundamentals of the Law of the Sea, fisheries regulations at international, regional and national levels, inspection procedures, collection and preservation of evidence, and enforcement procedures. Notions related to ethics, health safety and security issues were also addressed.
The trainees had the opportunity to visit the port facilities of Mahajanga and to visit the fisheries surveillance patrol vessel “ATSANTSA” returning from its previous mission at sea. On this occasion, the master of the patrol vessel and the inspectors on board explained to the training participants challenges they met during their mission.
As a result of this training course, the 35 recently qualified inspectors are now able to conduct inspections as part of the implementation of port State measures while the three trainers are now able to take charge of internal training activities relating to the inspection of foreign fishing vessels in designated ports of Madagascar.