Abidjan is West Africa’s largest port. The monitoring of fishing activity here has been significantly stepped up thanks to EU funding made possible through a Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement.
In exchange for allowing EU vessels, mostly from Spain, Portugal and France, to fish in its waters, Ivory Coast gets around 680,000 euros a year.
The EU’s ambassador to Ivory Coast, Jobst von Kirchmann, insists such cooperation between third countries is vital.
"You don't want to eat fish and get sick, that's one thing. But besides that, you also don't want to import a problem into the European Union when purchasing fish - such as illegal fishing, or other potential problems, he says. |
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