In the WIO region, artisanal, small scale and subsistence fisheries in coastal zones are of high social and economic importance. They represent over 70% of all fisheries in the WIO region. They sustain livelihoods in many coastal communities. An estimate of around 40% of fish stocks targeted by artisanal fisheries is exploited in an unsustainable way. There are more than a million workers including women and youth, employed directly and indirectly by these fisheries.
The Blue Growth project will work with Western Indian Ocean region countries through the Nairobi Convention Secretariat to cooperate on Fisheries Management and Environmental Protection. This will cooperation will yield conditions that will enable working towards integrated management of fisheries and other coastal environment uses. The project will be supporting member countries of the SWIOFC and Nairobi Convention in this commitment.
The project’s main focus is to improve coordination between fisheries and environmental management, for site implementation. It is necessary to have improved collaboration between fisheries and environmental management systems for a stronger output on the project’s intended impact of improving food security, increasing resilience and reducing poverty in fisheries-dependent coastal communities.