Stakeholders intensify calls for Senegal to join the FiTI

Senegal Sign-up steps

Stakeholders intensify calls for Senegal to join the FiTI

By Mansor Ndour

The FiTI Regional Coordinator for Francophone Africa, Mr Mansor Ndour, represented the FiTI in several activities advocating for Senegal’s membership to the FITI. These activities were led by civil society and fisheries professionals as part of a vast advocacy campaign initiated by the Coalition nationale pour une pêche durable (CONAPED), Article 19, the Open Government Partnership (OGP), Forum Civil and the West African Association for the Development of Artisanal Fisheries (WADAF) with the support of international partners such as Oceans5, Blue Ventures, and Oceana.

In August 2024, Senegal was delisted from the FiTI due to lack of progress in finalizing the FiTI Sign-up-steps. This meant that the FiTI International Board voided Senegal’s February 2016 public commitment to implement the FiTI Standard. Consequently, Senegal must restart the sign-up steps with a new public commitment from the new government.

The inertia and ambiguous position of the administration since Senegal’s delisting from the FiTI has led civil society and fishing professionals to question the role of stakeholders in ensuring greater ownership of the issue of Senegal’s membership to the FiTI and an inclusive approach to meet the OGP National Committee’s commitment to join the FiTI.

Advocacy activities kicked off on 13 January 2025 with a caravan to raise awareness among local authorities and grassroots stakeholders of CONAPED’s charter for sustainable fisheries, which comprises 13 commitments, including one dedicated to Senegal’s membership of the FiTI. Financed by Oceans5, the CONAPED caravan visited seven maritime regions and 26 fishing sites. The closing ceremony of the Caravan, held on January 23, 2025, was presided over by Mr. Ismaila NDIAYE, Senegal’s Director of Maritime Fisheries. The caravan helped raise awareness of the FiTI at a local level.

On 23 January 2025, ARTICLE 19 Senegal and West Africa, as the focal for civil society organisations within the OGP National Committee and in collaboration with the Forum Civil, initiated a citizens’ panel to identify the prospects for Senegal’s accession to the FiTI in a rapid and inclusive manner. The panel provided an opportunity for the FiTI’s Regional Coordinator to review the benefits of the FiTI for countries, the reasons for Senegal’s withdrawal from the FiTI list, the lessons learned from Senegal’s withdrawal, the possibility for Senegal to return to the FiTI list, and the conditions for returning to the FiTI list. Mr Cherif Sambou, Adviser of the Minister of Fisheries, Maritime and Port Infrastructures (MPIMP) reaffirmed the commitment of the national authorities to implementing the FiTI, and that efforts were underway to continue consultations with the FiTI and Article 19.

Following the citizens’ panel organised by article 19 and the civil forum, CONAPED organised a meeting on 31 January 2025 with the Sustainable Development Commission of the Senegalese National Assembly to train parliamentarians and journalists on the main regulatory texts governing fisheries, joint ventures and their consequences in the fisheries sector, and the importance of transparency in fisheries management in Senegal.  The meeting provided an opportunity to secure the commitment of parliamentarians to Senegal’s membership to the FiTI and to establish a synergy between all those involved in the fisheries sector on issues of concern to the Senegalese fisheries sector. Mr Ibrahima Mbodj, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Sustainable Development Committee, affirmed the commitment of parliamentarians to use the knowledge acquired at this workshop to better guide their actions. ‘We will advocate the strict application of fisheries regulations, encourage the harmonious cohabitation of small-scale and industrial fishing, and demand reliable data for a better understanding of the sector’. He also added that the parliamentarians will support the steps taken by Senegal to join the FiTI, stressing that ‘transparency and sustainable management of fisheries resources are essential to the survival of this sector’.

The above-mentioned advocacy campaigns were complemented by a high-level regional workshop, organised by WADAF with the support of Blue Ventures and OCEANA. One of the aims of the workshop was to extend the Sub-Regional Coordination of National Coalitions for Advocacy for Transparency in Fisheries Governance from Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia and Guinea Bissau to other countries in West and Central Africa (Cabo Verde, Cameroon and Ghana) and improve their knowledge of the issue of fisheries sustainability. Organisations such as OCEANA, Global Fishing Watch, the Environmental Justice Foundation, the Sub Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) and Forum Civil took part in the workshop. The FiTI International Secretariat gave a presentation on the importance of transparency in sustainable fisheries management. The opening ceremony of the workshop was chaired by Dr Mamadou Goudiaby, Director of Cabinet of the MIMP of Senegal and former member of the FiTI International Board.  He stated: ‘No matter how hard the players work, if the administration isn’t involved and doesn’t take ownership, it won’t be able to turn these efforts into results. The government is taking steps towards greater transparency in the fisheries sector, albeit at its own pace”.