African Union: Collect Existing Relevant Information in African Union Member States and Institutions on the State of Fish Stocks in Five Regions

Project Background:

The assignment is desk-based and will draw from existing information on stock assessments of marine and freshwater stocks done on international level and in AU Member States and Regional Economic Communities.
It will include consultations either online or in person, depending on the conditions of the responding institutions and those of the consultant.
The work is intended to inform development planning and support implementation of reforms for better ocean and inland waters governance, and to contribute to developing sustainable fisheries in line with the AU PFRS and the AU Blue Economy Strategy.

Objectives:

This consultancy aims to collect relevant information in AU MS and institutions on fish stocks in five AU regions and produce State of Fish Stocks Reports for each of the five AU regions.
The expected outputs will assist AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other AU institutions with development planning and the implementation of critical reforms for better ocean and inland waters governance, including developing sustainable fisheries in line with the AU PFRS and the AU Blue Economy Strategy.
The results should provide evidence for scaling up and making recommendations for capacity building for regular assessment of fish stocks in the five regions, considering current, differentiated regional contexts for stock assessments, and for broad management measures to utilise the stock assessment information.
 

Activities:

• Desk review of existing stock assessment information on international level and in AU Member States
• Consultations with institutions and stakeholders
• Bi-weekly reporting to the client’s coordinator
• Deliverable production according to the work plan

Results:

• Five State of Fish Stocks reports (one per AU region).
• Inception/interim report (with work plan, report template outline and kick-off meeting feedback).
• Stakeholder validation workshop outputs (verified findings and identification of key data gaps and opportunities).
• Final technical report on state of fish stocks in five regions, plus a summary and a PowerPoint presentation of validated key findings.
• The outputs are intended to provide evidence and recommendations for: scaling up regular stock assessments, adapting assessments to differentiated regional contexts, and broad management measures to make use of stock assessment information to support sustainable fisheries and governance reforms and capacity building to improve stock assessment.