The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority has disclosed the formation of fishery-based organizations (CBOs) into cooperatives ahead of the distribution of huge supplies of free internationally approved fishing nets and motorized engines to fishing communities across coastal counties in Liberia.
According to a release, NaFAA in collaboration with the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) will this month, September 2020, begin the first phase of the formation of the fishery cooperatives in Montserrado, Bomi, Margibi, Grand Cape Mount and Grand Bassa counties through trainings on the management and sustainability of the cooperatives in those counties.
A NaFAA release noted that the formation of the fishery-based organizations or cooperatives ahead of the free distribution of the internationally approved nets (multifilament nets) and motorized engines is to put the local fishermen in the position to enhance their capacity and increase their income from the access to the fishery resources.
The NaFAA press release indicated that “the approved nets will shortly arrive in Monrovia for distribution across the coastal counties of Liberia, and it is intended to promote the use of multi-filament net which is legal and thus lead to the immediate withdrawal of the mono-filament net (illegal) from small-scale fishers in Liberia.