On January 26, 2024, the fishing port of Monrovia played host to the launch ceremony of the campaign to assess fish stocks in Liberia’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The mission will run until February 9, 2024, aboard the 48-meter-long, 1,238-ton Moroccan scientific research vessel Hassan Al Marrakchi. The vessel is equipped with multifunctional laboratories in acoustics, oceanography, hydrography and marine biology, enabling it to carry out an ecosystemic campaign integrating all the components of the marine ecosystem.
The 31-strong expedition team includes 11 scientists and 20 crew members. Its mission is to assess the abundance of small pelagic and benthic stocks, as well as the oceanographic and environmental study of the Liberian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), with a view to the sustainable management of fishery resources by Liberia.
A project coordinated by Comhafat
The project supported by the Kingdom of Morocco is coordinated by the Ministerial Conference on Fisheries Cooperation between African States bordering the Atlantic Ocean (COMHAFAT). This mission “aims at effective and active cooperation between member states for the preservation of fishery resources and the sustainable development of fisheries in our regions. Under these conditions, our policies can only be built through effective and dynamic fisheries research”, explains Sidi Touré, the Ivorian Minister of Animal and Fisheries Resources, and current President of COMHAFAT.
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The organization brings together 22 countries from Morocco to Namibia. Created in 1989, its objectives are to promote cooperation in fisheries management and development, and to develop, coordinate and harmonize the efforts and capacities of member states with a view to preserving, exploiting, developing and marketing fishery resources.
Boris Ngounou