SADC Fisheries Policy Brief

Fisheries observers in the SADC region.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing disproportionately impacts developing coastal states, disrupting the societal and environmental fabric within coastal communities. Regional Management Organisations such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and fishery specific RFMOs1 such as ICCAT2 and IOTC3 benefit from coordinated national and regional Monitoring Control & Surveillance (MCS) responses to IUU fishing threats. This is accomplished if backed by strong political will to achieve information sharing with close cooperation and collaboration between member states as well as the application of standardised tools and asset sharing.