Justicia Shipena
The ECOFISH Programme is now entering its final semester.
The programme will keep its focus on consolidating efforts, anchoring the initiative institutionally, and preparing for the strategic handover of its work plans to ensure their sustainability beyond the project’s end on 12 September 2025.
This follows the 6th Steering Committee meeting in Gaborone, Botswana, which brought together representatives from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Delegation of the European Union to Botswana, the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), and several African Regional Economic Communities (RECs). Over three days, they reviewed the program’s progress and outcomes.
The first two days involved a detailed technical assessment of the five ECOFISH work plans, addressing challenges and finding ways to better meet the program’s goals.
On the third day, the committee discussed the outcomes and recommendations from the Technical Steering Committee.
Deputy Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Botswana, Catalin Gherman, called for increased efforts in the program’s final months.
He highlighted priorities such as improving ecological sustainability, using data-driven fisheries management, and enhancing ocean monitoring, control, and surveillance.
He praised small-scale sustainable projects at the grassroots level and stressed the need to scale them across Africa.
“For the European Union, we are at a critical moment to make the best out of this programme by learning the lessons of these past years, focusing together on strategic actions, and concretely preparing for its sustainability,” he said.
Director at the IOC General Secretariat, Alice N’Diaye, reviewed ECOFISH’s recent actions, focusing on the fight against Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing through the Regional Fisheries Surveillance Plan (PRSP).
She said member states confirmed their commitment to sustain the PRSP during the IOC’s 5th Summit in April and followed recommendations from the 3rd Ministerial Conference held in the Seychelles in February.
The program will now focus on consolidating, sustaining, and transferring these initiatives to strengthen regional and continental ownership.
ECOFISH is funded by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) and promotes regional cooperation for the sustainable management of inland and marine fisheries.
It supports the blue economy in Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, and the Indian Ocean region.
Managed by the EU Delegation in Mauritius and implemented by the IOC Secretariat, the program partners with four African Regional Economic Communities, COMESA, EAC, IGAD, and SADC and two Great Lake Fisheries Management Bodies: the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) and the Lake Tanganyika Authority (LTA).
The programme also works with regional agencies and projects such as AU-IBAR, AUDA-NEPAD, UNEP-NC, and FAO to drive change in the fishing and blue economy sectors across the region.
