Contribution of Gaoussou GUEYE -How to ” Foster a dialogue between Africa and Europe on Oceans Governance?”

Published On February 15, 2022 Published By Aliou

In view of the 6th AU-EU Summit to be held in Brussels on 17 and 18 February 2022, the European Commission is preparing the “Africa-Europe Week”, which will bring together working groups, workshops and cultural and communication activities.

In this context, the Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, VIRGINIJUS SINKEVIČIUS, in collaboration with the Africa-Europe Foundation and the Portuguese government, organized an event entitled: “Fostering a dialogue between Africa and Europe on ocean governance”. This event was held in a virtual format on Monday, February 14, from 16.30 to 18.30 (Brussels time).

The objectives of this event are twofold: first, to raise awareness of the need to strengthen ocean governance; second, to pave the way for Europe and Africa to join forces and work on concrete actions towards better ocean governance.

During this event, the results of the feasibility study … commissioned in 2020 on the creation of an EU-Africa task force on international ocean governance were presented. This study received comments and suggestions from various stakeholders in Africa and Europe and generated great interest.

To moderate this round table, the President of the African Confederation of Professional Organizations of Artisanal Fisheries (CAOPA) and Continental Coordinator of AFRIFISH was invited to make a contribution. Mr. Gaoussou Gueye, first thanked the Commissioner for the invitation and the trust placed in his person and the organization he represents to contribute to the roundtable on how “the oceans could be placed at the heart of the renewed partnership between Africa and Europe”.

Here is the full declaration

“The year 2022 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. There are good reasons for this. In Africa, artisanal fisheries mobilizes more than ten million men and women and feeds more than 200 million Africans. African fisheries, 75% of which are artisanal, are the largest sector of the blue economy in Africa, whether in terms of contribution to food security, jobs created or income generated. If Europe and Africa wish to join forces to support sustainable artisanal fisheries, the best way to do so is to implement, through their respective fisheries policies and partnership, the FAO Guidelines for Sustainable Artisanal Fisheries.

Men and women of the 27 African countries represented in CAOPA propose three priority areas of action, in which Europe and Africa have shown a common interest.

Our first priority, echoing Sustainable Development Goal 14b, is to ensure exclusive access to coastal areas for artisanal fisheries. In the European fisheries policy, the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy), preferential access rights are granted to artisanal fisheries in the twelve coastal miles. In Article 17 of the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy), Europe has also enshrined its willingness to grant preferential access to those who fish sustainably and contribute the most to local economies. In Africa, many countries are willing to set up a zone reserved for artisanal fisheries, but these are often not well delimited, not well managed or protected from the incursions of industrial fishing.

There is thus a common will of Europe and Africa to reserve access to the resources of their coastal zones for the benefit of sustainable artisanal fisheries. This common will has to be mirrored in the EU-Africa fisheries relations, whether it is at the level of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements, or through technical and financial support to concrete actions allowing fishermen to manage this coastal area themselves in a sustainable manner, with tools such as Protected Marine Areas or participatory monitoring. I would like to salute here the efforts of the EU to promote a concerted management of small pelagics in West Africa, which gives priority to the use of these resources for human consumption.

Enhancing the role of women in our sector is also a priority. Women in artisanal fisheries work and live in very hard conditions. It is not unusual to see women processors working more than ten hours a day in the smoke, sometimes with their babies with them. Despite this, they are innovative on a daily basis to improve their working conditions and the living conditions of their families.

The first thing women need is to have fish in order to process in sufficient quantities, of good quality, at affordable prices. In Mali, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya, women find solutions for this, such as starting small-scale fish farming, often coupled with vegetable production. This is a good way to supplement their supply of raw materials, but also to cope with periods when fishing is stopped (biological rest, for example). Women’s initiatives in this sector should be supported.

We are pleased to see that the programming of projects for Sub-Saharan Africa covering the period 2021-2027 gives greater importance to oceans and fisheries, with a specific focus on civil society organizations, women and an inclusive approach. We also appreciate the EU’s call to work “with the main regional networks and associations in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors and with private sector operators in the agriculture, fisheries and food value chains”.

A more intense dialogue with African artisanal fisheries communities and their organizations is essential to improve the impact of European funding. Today, many of us deplore the lack of controls in place to ensure that funds are used optimally to serve the interests of artisanal fisheries communities – there are many “high level” commitments with all sorts of promises of support for artisanal fisheries, but nothing filters down to the grassroots communities, and we see few results. The problem is not only at the level of the follow-up of the projects but already at the level of the definition of these projects. The national administrations do not always have a good knowledge of the fishing sector, nor of artisanal fishing. The participation of the artisanal fisheries actors by appropriate means must therefore be a priority for the definition, implementation and evaluation of the results of the fisheries projects supported in the framework of the EU-AU partnership

Finally, we welcome the setting up of an EU-Africa Task Force on international ocean governance. We hope that this Task Force will be an opportunity for African artisanal fisheries to make their concerns heard. Today, African artisanal fishing communities are worried about competition from other sectors of the blue economy, financially and politically more powerful, such as oil and gas exploitation, tourism or the development of polluting coastal industries. For us, the precautionary approach must guide the development of the blue economy. Independent and transparent social and environmental impact assessments must be conducted, with the participation of affected coastal communities. No new ocean use activity should be permitted by States, nor supported by donors, if it negatively impacts ecosystems and the activities of communities that depend on them for their livelihood. We also want to see the implementation of transparent mechanisms for consultation and conflict resolution between users of African coastal areas, which allow for informed and active participation of affected fishing communities.

As you can see, Africa and Europe have important shared interests in protecting and supporting sustainable artisanal fisheries in Africa. In all the examples of concrete actions that I have presented to you, – at the level of resource management, at the level of fisheries partnerships and projects, the involvement of professionals and civil society, through transparent mechanisms, is essential. The EU and the AU are well aware of this, as shown by the support given to the platforms of non-state fisheries actors, through the FISH GOV I and FISH GOV II projects. But this dialogue with artisanal fisheries needs to be strengthened, in all aspects of Europe-Africa fisheries relations, from bilateral fisheries agreements, to the programming of projects or the assessment of their results. We are ready to commit ourselves!

CAOPA Communication

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