Monrovia, Liberia-Liberia's Fisheries Director General Hon. Emma Metieh Glassco
has held bilateral discussion with Ghanaian Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture
Development and current Chair of FCWC Hon. Mavis Hawa Koomson on the
sideline of the ongoing Fisheries Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic
(CECAF-FAO) meeting taking place in Liberia.
FCWC is the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea, a regional
fisheries organization with a membership of six West African countries including
Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo.
The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) was
established in 2007 to facilitate cooperation in fisheries management among the
member countries. Those fisheries countries have several shared fish stocks and
identified a need for cooperation and shared management of these resources.

The two fisheries officials Wednesday July 12, 2023 discussed a wide range of
issues aimed at enhancing fisheries development among member states of FCWC.
Accordingly, Director General Glassco and Minister Koomson discussed
among other things, the upcoming 15 th Ministerial meeting schedule to be held in
Liberia in December 2023, implementation of regional closed fishing season,
FCWC Regional Observer program and joint fisheries patrol, and joint Scientific
research program.
They also discussed issues surrounding the fight against piracy in FCWC areas,
collaboration between Liberia and Ghana at international meetings,
implementation of the MoU between Liberia and Ghana to combat illegal,
unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU Fishing), discussion on the standard
operating procedures (SOP) for MoU between Liberia and Ghana, discussion on
cooperation between Liberia and Ghana for the development of Aquaculture in
Liberia.

Meanwhile, following the closed door discussion, a press briefing was held at
which time Director Glassco and Minister Koomson furthered pledged to work
collaboratively for the good of their countries.
Ghanaian Fisheries Minister was led on a tour of NaFAA’s facilities including its
technical office at the Mesurado Pier near Coast Guard Base on bushrod Island,
where she visited the Fisheries Monitoring Center (FMC), the competent lab and
the Pier where the government of Liberia is planning to transform into an industrial
fishing port under the World Bank Liberia Sustainable Management Fisheries
Project (LSMFP).