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Madagascar becomes the 10th Member State to join the SADC Monitoring Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre

Posted on 28 April 2022

28 April 2022, Antananarivo, Madagascar

The Minister of Fisheries and Blue Economy of the Republic of Madagascar, Honourable Dr Paubert T. Mahatante, MP, on 28^th April 2022 presented the SADC Charter establishing the SADC Regional Fisheries Monitoring Control Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) in Maputo, Mozambique at the Malagasy Cabinet meeting for approval, paving way for Madagascar to join in the regional cooperation for combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and related fish crimes.

The Charter establishing the MCSCC was approved by the SADC Council of Ministers at their meeting held in August 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa. The objective of the Charter is to provide a legal framework for the establishment and operationalisation of an institution that will coordinate measures relating to fisheries monitoring control and surveillance (MCS) in the SADC region.

Honorable Dr Paubert T. Mahatante signing the Charter for the MCSCC in Anatananarivo, Madagascar.

Honourable Mahatante is one of the top fisheries scientists and a progressive leader who championed and led the establishment of the Southern African Non-State Actor Platform for Fisheries and Aquaculture (SANSAFA) within the SADC region; a founding member of the Western Indian Ocean Governance Exchange Network (WIOGEN); and a member of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Association (WIOMSA). In the shortest period of his tenure as the Minister of Fisheries and Blue Economy, he has already put in place reforms in the Malagasy fisheries sector, and has enabled the country to join Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), which will help improve fisheries management and governance in the country, making it only the second country in the region and on the Continent, after Seychelles to do so. He is also championing the fight against IUU fishing in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO), and he believes that IUU fishing is a global problem requiring a global approach, and advocates for SADC Member States to work together towards finding a regional solution to this problem. Hence he ensured that Madagascar join the SADC region by ratifying the Charter for MCSCC.

SADC Secretariat welcomes Madagascar and appreciates the efforts by the Honourable Minister and the Government of the Republic of Madagascar. Madagascar has one of the promising network of MCS infrastructure and maritime security, which will benefit the regional efforts in combatting IUU fishing and fisheries related crimes. The country is also strategically positioned as a sub-hub to provide better coordination of sub-regional efforts in the SWIO sub-region.

Madagascar becomes the 10^th State Party to the Charter establishing MCSCC, joining Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. Two thirds of the SADC Member States are required to sign the Charter for it to enter into force, and Honourable Mahatante has made a commitment to join the Minister of Seas, Inland Waters and Fisheries of Mozambique to encourage other SADC Ministers who have not yet signed the Charter to do so.