The West Africa Task Force is supporting regional cooperation in order to identify, track, gather evidence and mount enforcement and prosecution actions against illegal fishing operators. It does this by:

– Supporting a case from the point where intelligence is received to enforcement prosecution of perpetrators;
– Sharing information effectively;
– Tracking vessels and identifying possible illegal fishing activity;
– Identifying the illegal fishers and eliminating illegal and ‘risk’ vessels from license lists and registers;
– Improving understanding of the fishing operations to inform MCS operations and strengthen MCS capacity;
– Cooperating and harmonizing with other countries, regions, organizations and initiatives; and
– Building the foundations for long term regional and sustainable MCS structures in the region.

The six member countries of the Fisheries Committee of the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) – Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo are the founding members of the West Africa Task Force.