Madagascar shows strong leadership to advance the Regional Register of Fishing Vessels
Madagascar – April 02-07, 2025
The Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) and its technical partners organised a capacity-building workshop on risk assessment of fishing vessels and a sensitisation event on the MCSCC in Madagascar, highlighting Madagascar’s commitment to regional cooperation to combat Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. This was the occasion to provide national officers with Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) tools promoted by the MCSCC on conducting risk assessments and inspections of fishing vessels. By integrating such risk assessments in their MCS practices, Madagascar is advancing the establishment of the Regional Register of Fishing Vessels (RRFV), one of the key functions of the MCSCC, which Minister for Fisheries and the Blue Economy (MPEB) His Excellency Paubert Mahatante is actively promoting.
Sensitisation, transparency and the promotion of partnerships – three principles that are dear to Minister Mahatante. As Madagascar pursues its efforts to advance the operationalisation of the MCSCC through active participation in key bodies such as the MCSCC Board of Directors and the MCSCC Operational Task Force, the Ministry used the presence of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat and MCSCC technical partners in Madagascar to organise a dialogue event on 7 April, opened to all stakeholders with an interest in ensuring sustainable fisheries management for the benefit of all. This event was organised to raise awareness among the public and relevant stakeholders on Madagascar’s national and regional policy commitments towards its vision to achieve a thriving blue economy, and to provide concrete examples of the power of the MCSCC to combat IUU fishing. This was the opportunity for the public to exchange with H.E. Mahatante on Madagascar’s engagement and leadership in building a united and integrated response to illegal fishing activity across Southern Africa.
“IUU fishing is a global issue, Madagascar cannot do it alone. This is why we are committed to cooperating with our SADC neighbours through the MCS Coordination Centre, to unite in the fight against illegal operators and ensure that legitimate fishermen can benefit from our ocean resources”.
Central to the sensitisation was the presentation of the Regional Fishing Vessel Register (RRFV), a key function of the MCSCC, which Madagascar is actively promoting as a positive move. In Madagascar and all other SADC Member States, this important tool will support transparency of information related to fisheries. It will help us in our fisheries management and enable greater vigilance of fishing vessels. Such a Register aligns with Madagascar’s commitments as a regional leader to promote transparency and policy change for sustainable fisheries.
“The Regional Register is the only way for us to make the difference between those who abide by our rules and those who violate them deliberately. This is our opportunity to ensure that those who engage in IUU fishing activities are not authorised on our Regional Register. We need the whole region and all stakeholders to commit to that”, the Minister said.
Regional cooperation through the MCSCC has already been instrumental in detecting and addressing cases of IUU fishing, which might have not been discovered without exchange of information and cooperation amongst countries in the region. The MCSCC offers strong opportunities to national MCS officers when addressing risks of fishing vessels. To help them harness fully this potential, the week preceding the sensitisation event, the MCSCC, through its Ocean Vigilance Project funded by Oceans 5 and its technical partners had organised a capacity-building workshop for Malagasy officers in charge of or supporting MCS activities in Diégo-Suarez, one of Madagascar’s six designated ports. This training was co-organised with Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Madagascar and the local organisation Fitsinjo, a network formed by various NGOs in Madagascar who have come together to create a fisheries observatory, with the aim to support the Fisheries Monitoring Centre (Centre de Surveillance des Pêches, CSP) in conducting their MCS activities. For four days, national officers from the six designated ports in Madagascar (Diégo-Suarez, Mahajanga, Tuléar, Tomatave, Fort-Dauphin and – since April 2025 – Nosy-Be) were introduced to different tools and methodology promoted through the MCSCC to assess risks of fishing vessels and support decision-making processes to deal with risk once identified. The MCSCC, supported by its technical partners, has been testing these tools throughout the SADC region to support harmonisation of MCS procedures, one of the objectives of the SADC Ministers in charge of Fisheries when they adopted the MCSCC Charter.
The risk assessment methodology, which was tested during the training on existing cases of vessels coming into port and applying for a fishing licence in Madagascar is an additional tool that national officers can integrate to their routine work and processes, providing the opportunity for systematic and standardised risk assessments. After the training, the MCSCC and its technical partners will continue offering coaching and mentoring support to fisheries inspectors and to tailor the methodology to the Malagasy context. The risk assessment tool of the MCSCC is envisioned to become a pillar of the RRFV, which is currently being established as a priority function. By integrating such risk assessments in their MCS practices, Madagascar is making strong contribution to the establishment of this exciting tool to help us protect our fisheries.
The sensitisation event to promote uptake of the SADC’s improved policy framework and the related workshop, were possible thanks to the support of Oceans5 through the Oceans Vigilance Project supported by Stop Illegal Fishing and TMT as well as by the national partners WWF Madagascar and Fitsinjo.
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