The Director General of the National Fishery and Aquaculture Authority of Liberia, Emma Metieh Glassco, Monday, November 25, 2024, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on technical cooperation in Cario, Egypt, with Major General AlHussein Farahat Mohamed, Executive Director of Lakes and Fish Resources Protection and Development Agency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
The MoU 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 of transitioning from a dominated subsistence fish farming sector to a full-scale commercially viable aquaculture sector in Liberia.
To achieve this goal, the MoU will promote capacity-building opportunities for local farmers, students, researchers, and experts exchange program for the Fishery Department at the University of Liberia and other tertiary institutions, amongst others.
Moreover, a key objective of the MoU is to engage in trade facilitation and link the private sector of Egypt to Liberia and also collaborate on monitoring control and surveillance services, while at the same time 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, follow relevant international laws to encourage and promote cooperation in the areas of fishery 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.
In addition, 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.
Also, 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.