By Fanta L. Keita
MONROVIA, May 20 (LINA) –The Government of Liberia through the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) has concluded a two-day national working group meeting in Monrovia to fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU)fishing within the country.
The two days meeting which was held from May 15-16, 2025, according to a NaFAA release, was in collaboration with the Fisheries Committee for the West-Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) and its partners, Stop Illegal Fishing and Trygg Mat Tracking (TMT) – alongside Global Fishing Watch.
It disclosed that during the meeting, participants discussed the status of fisheries interagency cooperation in Liberia and its responsibilities as a Port State, the Port State Measure Agreement (PSMA) Profile and development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for PSMA implementation.
In addition, the NAFAA release further disclosed that discussions were held on how to coordinate between Liberia’s national Fisheries Monitoring Centre (FMC) and the FCWC Regional MCS Centre and Regional MCS Center (RMCSC); updates on the use of the new version of the Vessel Viewer application, jointly developed by TMT and GFW.
At the opening ceremony, NaFAA Deputy Director General for Administration Augustine M. Manoballah said, Liberia appreciates the technical support provided by FCWC and Partners for gearing toward enabling the Fisheries Authority to enhance its technical capacity in tackling illegal fisheries activities as a Port, Flag, Coastal, and Market State.
Also speaking at the technical meeting in the context of IUU fishing in the FCWC Region, TMT West and Central Africa Coordinator Viviane Koutob, challenged the Liberian Fisheries Authority to utilize the technical support from its regional partners.
