The Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority of Liberia (NaFAA), Emma M. Glassco, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Technical Cooperation with the Executive Director of Lakes and Fish Resources Protection and Development Agency, AlHussein Farahat Mohamed in Egypt.
The MoU, signed on Monday, November 25, 2024, focuses on aquaculture development, enhancing fisheries’ governance through monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS), and strengthening cooperation to conduct scientific research programs.
According to a dispatch from Cairo, the primary aim of the MoU is to strengthen technical cooperation between Liberia and Egypt for mutual benefit and facilitate trade thereby increasing private sector participation with a major goal to transition from a dominated subsistence Fish Farming sector to full scale commercially viable Aquaculture Sector of Liberia.
To achieve this goal, the MoU will promote capacity-building opportunities for local farmers, students, researchers, and experts exchange program for the Fisheries Department at the University of Liberia and other tertiary institutions, a scientific fishery research program amongst others.
A key objective of the MoU is to engage in trade facilitation and link the private sectors of Egypt to Liberia and also collaborate on monitoring control and surveillance services while sharing technical knowledge and expertise and building institutional capacity in aquaculture.
In the area of cooperation according to the MoU, Liberia and Egypt shall within their competence and by their respective relevant laws and regulations and also follow relevant international laws to encourage and promote cooperation in the areas of Fisheries Governance.
Moreover, under Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance, Liberia and Egypt shall develop, adopt, disseminate, and implement the appropriate international plan of action to prevent, deter, and eliminate illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IPOA-IUU) fishing and also coordinate activities and cooperate directly and through relevant Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) in preventing, deterring, and eliminating IUU fishing activities.
This will be implemented through the exchange of data or information in a standardized form from records of vessels authorized by both countries to fish in a manner consistent with any applicable confidentiality requirement.
The MoU will allow and enable Liberia and Egypt’s respective Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance practitioners or enforcement personnel to cooperate in the investigation of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing activities and collect, maintain, and share data and information relating to such fishing.
The two countries will cooperate in transferring expertise and technology and cooperate to make policies and measures compatible, and develop cooperative mechanisms that allow inter agencies to respond to IUU fishing.
Meanwhile, in the area of Aquaculture development, the MoU states that there will be technological skills transfer in tilapia farming and the development of native fish species for commercial aquaculture operation, expert exchange, and information sharing on Aquaculture technological development, Best Management Practices (BMP), disease control and management and study and monitoring of the parameters of the rivers, coastal, and marine environment.
The MoU in the area of Aquaculture will look at the quality of fishery and aquaculture products, and the organization of working groups for the joint analysis of data.
