Founder/President of AFMESI, Dr. Felicia Chinwe Mogo
June 2, 2022
The African Marine Environment Sustainability Initiative (AFMESI) in her commitment to ensuring eco-balance of resources in the marine environment of Africa, does note the importance of biodiversity, especially fisheries, in contributing not just to the GDP of African nations but also, to the socio-economic role they play for human populations of Africa, especially people in coastal communities. This is why, we committed at the 3rd Symposium of AFMESI held in October 2021, to making every effort to identify sources of negative impacts on fisheries in the continent. We then noted, a major affect to fish stocks across the region to be the issue of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
In consideration of all the instruments set globally and in Africa to protect fish resources, AFMESI did commit to flagging a campaign against IUU fishing in Africa by the first quarter of 2022. Today, we are fulfilling that promise by launching the AFMESI IUU Awareness Program. The Program is targeted to the political class that approves instruments in protection of the marine environment (in this case IUU fishing), the ministries, departments and agencies of government that are charged with the implementation of policies and the populace, especially the coastal communities, who can promote awareness on the need to ensure eco-balance of fish stocks.
Apart from adding to GDP, fisheries provide disposable cash for coastal communities and serve as their major source of protein. The ways that fish stocks are being tapped into and exploited in an unsustainable manner are causing several affects. Let us ensure there is an equilibrium, let us ensure there is justice, let us ensure there is fairness in tapping into the resources of the ocean which Africa is endowed with and let us key into Blue Economy in the areas of biodiversity conservation.
As such, AFMESI is hereby flagging off this campaign and is inviting all stakeholders to join hands, to join interests and to join all resources at their disposal to support/partner with us in these efforts. Kindly join the boat for sustainable fishing in Africa.
For more information on the IUU Awareness Program of AFMESI, please feel free to reach out to our Office via email: contact@afmesi.org.
