Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) Explained By Livinus Njume Esambe (PhD)

The West African?Regional Coordinator of Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), Mansor Ndour has said that the Fisheries Transparency Initiative?is ‘a global multi-stakeholder partnership that seeks to increase transparency and participation for more sustainability in marine fisheries.’ He argued that FiTI?provides governments, all kinds of participants in the fishing industry and civil society with an international framework for credible quality information about national fisheries. ‘It promotes informed public debate about sector policies and supports the long-term contribution of the sector to national economies and the well-being of citizens and the viability of companies.’ He was speaking to The Action?on June 13, 2023 at Centre International de Conférence Abdou Diouf (CICAD) in Dakar-Senegal during the EITI’s ninth Global Conference.

The champions of the FiTI in Africa are Seychelles and Mauritania. As the initiative was launched in Africa Mauritania in 2016 and the headquarters is based in Seychelles. According to Mansor Ndour the platform is currently made up of 78 governments. They commit to develop national action plans for enhanced transparency, accountability and participation co-developed by public officials and representatives of more than 4000 civil society organisations. The principal eligibility criteria for participation are that countries demonstrate disclosure of information essential to ensure transparency of governance and that liberty space is provided to civil society organisations.?He added that Transparency in Fisheries initiative ‘started with a snapshot description of the island country in the Indian Ocean with only about 90,000 inhabitants.’ Countries that were on board the FiTI standard, he said, included Schellels, Mauritania, Sao Tome Principe, Cape Verde, Senegal, Madagascar, Guinea and Ecuador while there were plans to bring Peru on board.

?According to the Coordinator at Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements, Belgium, Béatrice Gorez, there is lack of transparency characteristic of the operation of foreign fleets in the waters of West African countries. A regional public registers of fishing vessels is badly missing in order to determine beneficial ownership of vessels operating with or without licenses in the region. Among European vessels Spain, Italy and Greece continued their presence. Latvian vessels, some flying the Cameroonian flag were also operating there. Turkey had developed operations in the last few years, but China trumped them all since at least a decade, often flying local flags or flags of convenience. Their openly fraudulent catch declarations seriously undermined attempts at resource management.

According to the Communication Officer of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Hamada S’Neiba, the biggest challenges affecting particularly Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania was the explosive expansion of fishmeal factories. They compete with the local food value chains and redirect increasing quantities of small pelagics to fishmeal and oil for feeds, all the while these resources are already overharvested and suffer from climate change effects. Unfortunately, there is lack of transparency and transgression of existing rules. Greater transparency would be a step in the right direction.

It should be recalled that in 29-30 March 2023, fisheries practitioners from the South-West Indian Ocean (SWIO) Region gathered in Seychelles to attend a two-day regional workshop aimed at enhancing awareness of the importance of transparency for sustainable fisheries management. The workshop took place under the theme, ‘Promoting Transparency for Sustainable Marine Fisheries through Collective Actions in the South-West Indian Ocean (SWIO) Region’. ?The SWIO Region has substantial marine resources and valuable fish stocks, contributing significantly to government revenues, food and nutrition security, as well as employment. Fisheries is a core pillar in developing sustainable Blue Economies in SWIO countries, however, recent decades have witnessed unsustainable fishing practices and overexploitation of stocks, due to – inter alia – legal overfishing as well as Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUUF). Mansor Ndour concluded that EITI and FiTI have many areas of convergence and collaboration.?Just like EITI, FiTI has developed an internationally recognised standard which serves as a framework that defines what information on fisheries management should be published.?

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