Our new office in Weilheim

Nov. 2009: COFAD is moving office!

After 10 years on the beautiful, but a little bit remote Gut Rösslberg, COFAD has decided to move to town. Our new office will be in Weilheim, about 9 km away from Gut Rösslberg. From 1 December 2009 on, our contact details are:

COFAD GmbH
Obere Stadt 47
82362 Weilheim
Tel.: ++49 - 881 - 901 15 17 0.

Dec. 2008: New shareholder composition and new management

The composition of COFAD’s shareholding has changed. With effect from 1 January 2009, GOPA Consultants of Bad Homburg, Germany will hold 70% of COFAD. GOPA Consultants is the leading German development consulting firm and one of the strongest consulting groups in Europe. Since 1965, GOPA Consultants has implemented over 3,000 management and training projects for national and international funding agencies as well as private industry in more than 130 countries.

GOPA and COFAD have a long-standing and trusted business relationship and have successfully collaborated on a number of projects in the past 20 years. The acquisition of a majority share of COFAD by GOPA will strengthen the cooperation between the two companies and will increase COFAD’s productivity and competitiveness.

In addition, there are changes in COFAD's Management: Suitbert Schmüdderich became new Managing Director in November 2008. He took over from Roland Beck, who retired for health reasons. Suitbert, who has been working for COFAD since 1989, was already appointed authorized signatory (“Prokurist”) in 2004 and has thus been fully involved in the overall management of the company. Roland Beck remains shareholder of COFAD and will continue to support the company, his health permitting. This will ensure continuity in the provision of our services and in maintaining our high standard of delivery.

Feb. 2008: Support to the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (CSRP), West Africa

In a consortium with GOPA Consultants (lead), COFAD has been commissioned to implement a project in support of the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (CSRP) in West Africa. Contracting organisation is GTZ.

CSRP has been formed by Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leona and Cape Verde in order to harmonise their fisheries policies, improve enforcement of fisheries rules and by this to make the utilisation of their fisheries resources more sustainable.

The German government supports CSRP by a technical assistance project, a first phase of which has been implemented successfully by the same consortium since 2005.

Sep. 2007: COFAD supports the sustainable development of fisheries in Turkey. The Project "Integration of Sustainable Development (SD) into Sectoral Policies", funded by European Union and implemented by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in coordination with Turkish State Planning Organization, deals with fisheries as one among five pilot sectors. COFAD staff member Suitbert Schmüdderich has been recruited by UNDP in order to provide expertise on policy formulation towards sustainable development and integrated planning in the fisheries sector.

Training on carp hatchery operation in Kosovo

Aug. 2007: COFAD wins GTZ tender on fisheries and aquaculture project component in Kosovo

The GTZ project "Agro-Processing" promotes value chain development for selected groups of products in Kosovo. As one component, the project supports Kosovo’s fisheries and aquaculture sector. This component had been assisted by COFAD under a number of assignments since 2005, with significant success in particular concerning the development of trout production. A contract to support this component during a new phase of about one year has now been awarded to COFAD.

July 2007: COFAD participates in Study “Definition of Data Collection Needs for Aquaculture” for EU Commission, DG Fish. Main objective of the study is to identify the data required to assess the evolution and economic performance of the aquaculture sector and the best mechanisms for collecting these data. COFAD's tasks included a survey of the economic situation of aquaculture in Germany and to assess the feasibility of a European permanent scheme for the collection of economic data on aquaculture. The study is implemented by a consortium led by Framian (NL).

Apr. 2007: COFAD drafts an integrated local development strategy for the Fisheries Area "North Sea Coast of Lower Saxony", Germany. The European Fisheries Fund (EFF) provides assistance for the sustainable development and improvement of the quality of life in eligible fisheries areas. One such area in Germany is the "North Sea Coast of Lower Saxony". A local group, representing public and private partners from the various socio economic sectors, has been set up to co-ordinate development efforts. To support this group, COFAD has been commissioned to draft - in co-operation with the group - an integrated strategy for sustainable development of the area. Contracting organisation is AFW Cuxhaven.

Sep. 2006: Technical assistance for the ex-ante Evaluation of the Fishery Operational Programme (FOP) 2007–2013 for Romania. Romania, trough the National Agency for Fisheries and Aquaculture (NAFA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Rural Development (MAFRD) and with EU-financial assistance, is currently preparing the fisheries operational programme (FOP) for the implementation of the European Fisheries Fund. The FOP 2007–2013 will be subject to an ex ante evaluation that aims:

• to optimise the allocation of budgetary resources and to improve programming quality through independent judgment and recommendations.
• to shed light on choices assessing the feasibility, the effectiveness of different objectives and their coherence with the overall strategy and shall take into account the relevance of objectives compared to needs and inputs.
• to check if lessons learnt from past experiences have been taken into account and will assess the quality of the diagnostic, the expected impacts and the implementation system.
• to appraise the community added-value and the extent to which the Community’s priorities have been taken into account.
• to establish the basis for effective monitoring, ongoing, mid-term and ex post evaluations by ensuring that there are explicit, quantified objectives and appropriate indicators reflecting the strategic and operational objectives of the programme.

COFAD GmbH, under subcontract of Italtrend spa, provides the team leader and the overall fisheries expertise. Duration of the assignment is six months.

June 2006: Rehabilitation of tsunami-affected fisheries and aquaculture facilities in Aceh province, Indonesia. In the context of the Aceh Emergency and Transitional Aid Programme, COFAD has been commissioned by GTZ with the operational planning of the rehabilitation and/or reconstruction of the Tsunami-affected aquaculture industries and fisheries landing sites along the North-East coast of the province Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia.

April 2006: Support to aquaculture in Kosovo. After a successful completion of an earlier assignment in this field, COFAD has again been entrusted by GTZ with the development of fisheries and aquaculture in Kosovo. Focus is on training of trout producers and on the improvement of veterinary services and on-farm health management.

Jan. 2006: Ex ante Evaluation of the German Operational Programme under EFF. In 2007, the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) will be replaced by the European Fisheries Fund (EFF). The Federal and State Ministries in charge are presently preparing an Operational Programme for the implementation of the EFF in Germany. The programme shall cover the period 2007 to 2013. Before being adopted, it has to be evaluated ex ante. COFAD has been commissioned to do this by the Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV).

Jan. 2006: Impact of the increase in the oil price in European fisheries. COFAD contributes to a study on the impact of the increased oil price on the European fisheries. The study is led by the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) of Wageningen University; COFAD covers the German fleet. The study is commissioned by the European Parliament.