National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fisheries.

The objective of Liberia s National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (NPOA-IUU) is to lay out a plan of action that identifies existing gaps in relation to combating IUU fishing and to propose remedial steps to address these gaps. This Liberia s NPOA-IUU has been developed in accordance with the principles and provisions of the International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate IUU fishing (IPOA-IUU) and the IUU Regional Plan of Action developed by the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC-RPOA-IUU).
The document indicates that the major impacts of IUU fishing include loss of marine biodiversity and habitats, reduction in food security and economic loss to coastal States. These also indirectly make impacts on the poverty reduction efforts. The level at which fisheries resources are harvested illegally is alarming and has contributed to the extinction of several species and the adverse effect is hampering the source of livelihood of coastal communities inhabitants in West Africa especially Liberia whose major source of protein of its citizenry is fish.
To fight against IUU and achieve more productive and more sustainable fisheries, actions are proposed in the Plan through analysis of existing actions, efforts and mechanisms, with the strengthening of regulatory frameworks, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement, national and regional collaboration, conduct of due diligence on fishing vessels and information sharing. Major actions include: Strengthen the regulatory framework for operational fisheries management in Liberia; Identify and monitor IUU vessels and share information with neighboring states; Contribute to improved global information on IUU fishing vessels; Exercise flag state responsibility by implementing the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Flag State Performance; Improve management of all marine fisheries sectors, consistent with FAO Code of Conduct on Sustainable Fisheries; eliminate overfishing; minimize risk of irreversible damage to ecosystems; Incorporate FAO Port State Measures Agreement and ICCAT Recommendation 97- 10 into domestic legislation and enforcement action; Ensure that IUU fisheries products are not imported into Liberia or exported from Liberia; Enhanced systems for fisheries monitoring, data collection (catch, effort, socioeconomic data, ecosystem impacts), digitization and analysis; collaborate within ICCAT for assessment of shared stocks, and with other agencies, universities and development partners for related research.; Collaborate with development partners to improve fisheries management in Liberia and the wider Gulf of Guinea, especially regarding monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement; Capacity building for officials in fisheries management including training in fisheries law, monitoring, control and surveillance, fisheries science and international trade; Improve reporting of management performance in terms of effectiveness of regulations, degree of compliance, biological status of fish stock and bio-socio-economic status of fisheries; etc.