FIRST QUARTER (JANUARY - MARCH, 2012) PROGRESS REPORT - BUREAU OF NATIONAL FISHERIES, LIBERIA

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1 FIRST QUARTER (JANUARY - MARCH, 2012) PROGRESS REPORT - BUREAU OF NATIONAL FISHERIES, LIBERIA Activities Sub-activities Achievements and status Challenges and constraints Recommended ations and by whom Component 1 Good governance and sustainable management of the fisheries SUB-COMPONENT 1.1 Development of the capacity, rules, procedures and practices for good governance of the fisheries Strengthening of policy and regulatory framework for use of the fish resources i. Development of long-term policy vision and institutional arrangements, including MCS plans and strategies As part of the on-going policy consultative process the first fisheries and aquaculture dialogue was held in Monrovia from 15th to 17th February, The workshop brought together 25 major fisheries stakeholders to share ideas on long term fisheries policy. The draft report was prepared and reviewed for finalization. NFDS to submit workshop final report for circulation ii. New Fisheries Act is passed At the policy workshop a presentation was made on the status of the New Fisheries Act. The general outline was shown to be dependent on the policy statements and strategies that would be formulated by the consultative processes. Accordingly, later the Fisheries Regulations would be revised to conform to the New Act when completed. NFDS to complete policy document before initiating the preparation and passing of Act. iii. Commencement of work by firm to research into social and economic benefits of access agreement Not yet initiated iv. External training in governance and policy for 5 BNF staff (2 long and 3 short courses) 2 staff of BNF were nominated by the Ministry of Agriculture for Master of Science programs at the Department of Fisheries and Oceanography of the University of Ghana: one for fisheries management; and the other for coastal management. 3 other BNF staff were proposed for short courses at the Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation in the Netherlands for training in the echosystem approach to fisheries and fisheries governance. The short courses are awaiting the TTL review and no objection. Challenges in securing TTL to give no objection for short institutions in the sub-region courses. offering the desired programs

2 External training in maritime law and law of the sea for 2 legal persons One of the Ministry's nominees for the Masters of laws program, Elizabeth-Rose Amidjogbe received admission to the Institute of Intermational Maritime Law in Malta. The documents were submitted to the TTL for no objection to proceed with the arrangements for placements. There was still no news from the other nominated candidate. Still one nominee could not secure admission TTL to give no objection for course. v. Human capacity building (on the job and formal lectures) vi. Development and management of a website to enhance transparency in fisheries management vii. Declaration of country s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the sea, with UNCLOS viii. Facilitation of implementation of Fisheries Management Advice by the Minister of Agriculture in support of application of the New Fisheries Regulations, 2010 as follows: Lectures were given by the co-management consultant on strategic planning and certificates awarded to BNF/WARFP staff who successfully completed the lecture series. The website was up but final touches including proof reading, checking the contents of other linked sites were being undertaken to enable the official commissioning of the website on the 12th of April at the Ministry of Agriculture. The Executive Order for declaration of the maritime zones of Liberia was signed on the 12th of January by the President. By close of the quarter, the National Oil Company of Liberia being the secretariat of the Maritime Zones Commission was advised by the project to further seek international recognition by getting DOALAS to gazete the declaration. BNF was still in the process of vetting for approval a request for fishing licenses for 21 vessels submitted by an agency called the Mbambali Fishing Company. Due deligence revealed that 6 of the vessels were implicated previously for illegal fishing which was therefore making the approval processes problematic. Final decision was expected in the first week of April. Delay caused by absence of website consultant Lack of knowledgeof the processes for declaration by NOCAL, the Secretariat to the Liberia Maritime Zone Declaration Commission is delaying the process How to deal with the vessels implicated in illegal fishing is delaying the approval process Website development team to make final preparations for outdooring on 12th April at the conference room of Ministry of Agriculture NOCAL to work with Ministry of Foreign Affairs for gazetting of maritime declaration by Liberia The license committee required to request for damages/reparations for fish stocks caught illegally to pave way for licensing for this year

3 1.1.2 Registration of all fishing vessels i. Registration of fishing vessels, data input, analyses, restitution and finalization of database on vessel registration Registration of industrial fishing vessels commenced and so far only 2 have been registered. Other requests were being considered. The artisanal register was being reviewed to reflect additional data colleced. A plan was been formulated for the data to be managed using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Contact was being made with the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems (CERGIS) of the University of Ghana. It is expected that new maps of the counties and Liberia in general would be produced showing fishing villages using the GIS. Contact to be made by Coordinator with CERGIS on introduction of GIS and training opportunities Assessment of the status of key fish stocks i. Evaluation of technical and financial proposals completed for selection of international university for long-term contract to provide research and training support to BNF and establishment of fisheries curriculum ii. Recruitment of university for research and training support The much delayed financial evaluation was concluded on the 11th of March and at the close of the quarter, the combined evaluation report was submitted for no objection to enable a contract to be prepared and signed for commencement of work by the university in May. Dependent on no objection for the combined evaluation report and contract TTL to give no objection for negotiations and contracting iii. First research and training campaigns started (details of programs to be worked out by the selected university) i. RCU to recruit firm for design of dashboard, Transparency and design completed and accessibility of fisheries ii. IT platform for dashboard installed, engagement of operators, and training See above No activity No activity RCU activity RCU activity

4 SUB-COMPONENT 1.2 Introduction of fishing rights (US$0.6 m GEF) Introduction of fishing rights through a system of comanagement i. Complete Robertsport CMA plan i. A strategic plan was prepared by John Parks, the co-management consultatnt, for further action by the Robertsport CMA. Also the consultant assisted the CMA to initiate a review of the bye-laws which were later validated and finalized at a one day workshop held at Robertsport by the CMA. At this workshop a draft constitution was reviewed and adopted. The CMA itself started operations by setting up 6 subcommittees whose capacity would be built by resources specialist to be identified by the project in Monrovia. The sub-committees comprise: 1. Planning, Development and Social Committee 2. Membership and RecruitmentCcommittee 3. Conflict Management Committee 4. Community Surveillance Committee 5. Community Science Committee and 6. Business Management Committee. The one day workshop was attended by 30 members. ii. A collaboration was entered into for the Environmental Justice Foundation to partner the project in establishing and building capacity of the CMA. In this regard the ii. Specialized training (measurement of atmospheric temperature, fish length, tidal waves, beach hygiene, erosion etc) for the CMAs to be established at Robertsport and provision of equipment for monitoring the health of beach and inshore environments. On going. Activities would be conducted in the future by the community science group now referred to as the Sub-committee for Community Science Roberstport team to identify resource personnel to provide capacity building to the 6 subcommittees. Also the comanagement consultant to initiate the preparation of the comanagement plan to kick start operations of the CMA

5 SUB-COMPONENT 1.4 Social marketing, communication and transparency (US$0.2 m GEF) Social marketing and communication xiii. Preparation of an implementation plan for the nets exchange program to replace 25% of illegal fishing gear from the Turf to be established at Robertsport in the first year. xiv. Implementation of net exchange program vii. Design and technical specifications for construction of 4 Community Fisheries Centers (CFC) for Robertsport MPA/TURFs completed and validated by communities. i. Preparation of supporting material and coordination for the Co-management and MCS teams. iv. Radio advertising campaign to promote fisheries and WARFP. Ads to run on 9 costal counties local radio stations. i. After the co-management consultant's submission of a draft report on experiences of net exchange programs in 3 countries together with proposals and recommendations, the project now awaits the draft strategy document which he promised to present as part of his end of consultancy report. ii. The CMA executive visited all 15 communites to be involved with the nets exchange program for sensitization and setting up of 3 member core groups to manage the program in each fishing community. iii. A one day workshop was planned for the 11th of April to build the capacity of the community core groups on methodologies to be applied and on the fisheries regulations to enhance work. See above Preliminary designs were submitted for review and it was expected that the final would be presented together with bill of quantities to proceed with preparation of tender documents. i. After shortlisting 5 applicants out of 8 for the post of Communications Specialist an interview was conducted for selection of the deserving candidate on the 29th of March. The report of selection was to be sent to the TTL for no objection for preparation of contract. ii. More documents were sent out to Robertsport to support sentization visits to the 15 communities to participate in the net exchange program. Various brochures and posters were distributed during meetings The radio programs would be assessed to determine effectiveness and future direction if need be to be continued Co-management consultant to provide the strategy document for implementation of the nets exchange program LAMDA to provide final architectural and engineering designs and bill of quantities for preparation of tender documents Process for recruitment to be expedited by Procurement Component 2 Reduction of illegal fishing (US$5.4 m IDA) v. Finalization of social and marketing surveys report and presentation and dissemination LISGIS was sent the revised report for finalization but as at the close of the quarter the final report had not been received LISGIS to be given final warning for final report to be expedited

6 SUB-COMPONENT 2.2 Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) systems (US$5.4 m IDA) Implementing sustainable surveillance systems i. Preparation of technical specifications and bidding documents for new BNF headquarters, FMC and competent authority lab, Robertsport landing site as well as coastal stations and equipment ii. MCS capacity building a. Study tour to Namibia No yet initiated b. Regional workshop on MCS Not yet initiated iii. MCS strategic and operational planning and manual a. Strategic international intelligence support on targeting IUU owners, vessels etc iv. Technical support to establish a MCS national centre v. Technical support to establish two coastal MCS centres Final designs and bill of quantities expected from the consultant early next month. The consultant appealed for help from the international ports consultant who initiated work on the design of the industrial landing and export terminal but failed to submit the detailed needs for assistance before the end of the quarter. The CV and TOR of an international intelligence expert (Mr. Album Gunnar) was sent to the TTL for no objection for recruitment. The expert was expected to undertake training also for capacity building of the FMC. The MCS consultant built capacity of the FMC on radio communications and use of cameras for air surveillance. The design of a model coastal station was prepared for adoption in Buchanan and Harper vi. Equipping Liberia with air and sea surveillance capacity a. air surveillance - patrols i. The UNMIL was provided a GPS camera with a powerful lens to assist in the detailed gathering of evidence for effective prosecution of fisheries cases. The flight operations officer was given training on the use of the equipment. ii. 4 air surveillance patrols were conducted during the quarter b. sea patrols i. The necessary funds for mounting of the tank on the saddles to be constructed and subsequent protection with concrete walls was released. It is expected that early next month the fuel tank at Buchanan would be completed. With the lessons learnt it is expected that the Harper project would be rapid. ii. Only one sea patrol was conducted in search of EROS which was suspected to be engaged in illegal fishing Frequent change of headship of LCG on fellowships abroad LAMDA to provide final architectural and engineering designs and bill of quantities for preparation of tender documents and also to provide details of asistance sought from the international posts consultant TTL to grant no objection for recruitment MCS consultant to initiate further action on technical support SP Oil Marketing Co. engineer to expedite action to mount fuel tank at Buchanan The Liberia Army Chief of Staff to be consulted to address the decrease in sea patrols

7 vii. Developing a national observer programme NOAA was working hard to prepare the observer data for analyses by an expert to be fielded in April. In this regard, corrections and cleaning of the observer data was being undertaken by the oberver management team viii Observer communications equipment ix. Support to community monitoring and enforcement A Liberian Communications company was requested to remedy the inadequacy in performance of the FMC communications equipment which unabled it to establish effective communications with observers and vessels at sea. The HF radios were now able to make contact as far as Russia and Japan. It has started already to repair the VHF radios for land based operations. The sub-committee for surveillance was established at Robertsport and the MCS consultant was tasked with the responsibility of capacity building of the members. It was expected that a capacity building program would be prepared and implemented next quarter Component 3 Increasing the contribution of the Marine Fish Resources to the local economies(us1.9 m IDA) SUB-COMPONENT 3.1 Fish i. Capacity building and facilitation of training Not yet initiated landing site clusters (US$1.3 m and extension for product development IDA) ii. Preparation of an investment package and call for expression of interest from potentially interested private companies for a concession from BNF for use of the pier, as partner with Government The lease for the Mesurado fishing pier was being adjusted from years with the preparation of an addendum. IFC has indicated its interest in securing partners in the establishment and management of the industrial fish landing and export terminal. Component 4 Coordination, monitoring and evaluation and program management (US$1.7 m IDA, US$.8 GEF) SUB-COMPONENT 4.1 National implementation (US$1.1 m IDA, US$0.8 m GEF) i. Arrangements for construction of BNF HQ Preliminary designs were submitted for review and it was expected that the final would be presented together with bill of quantities to proceed with preparation of tender documents. ii. Recruitment of focal person for value addition Not yet initiated NOAA to set up a credible mechanism to analyze and use data collected by observers instead of data collected at the port by fisheries inspectors which often is underestimated MCS consultant to initiate action now that the Robertsport surveillance committee is in place Legal Department of NPA to expedite action on preparation of addendum LAMDA to provide final architectural and engineering designs and bill of quantities for preparation of tender documents iii. Recruitment of assistant accountant ii. Study tour iii. Short courses for the FMO staff Report of selection process submitted to TTL for no objection before recruitment Not yet initiated The project accountant attended a two- week capacity building course in South Africa TTL to grant no objection for recruitment

8 iv. Steering Committee meetings. The first steering committee meeting was BNF/FMO held in February and the annual report, budget and workplan including the Aide memoir were presented. Also there were reports presented on Liberia's attempt to curb IUU fishing by the LCG and Ministry of Justice.