The governments of Liberia and South Korea have initiated a high level discussions aimed at drastically reducing illegal fishing on Liberian Waters.
The International discussion, which took place at the Mesurado Pier on the Bushrod Island, brought together a nine-member Korean delegation headed by YU Byeonghyun Director of the Fisheries Monitoring Center at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in South Korea, as well as the government of Liberia through the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) in a bilateral discussion aimed at working out mechanism to reduced illegal fishing in Liberia.
A press release from the NaFAA says the ongoing discussions will shortly lead to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the East Sea Fisheries Management Service, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Republic of South Korea.
The National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) represents the government of Liberia, on the establishment of the Integrated Fisheries Monitoring system to control illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Liberian waters.
According to the draft MOU, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of South Korea and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, on behalf of the government and people of Liberia, are expected to establish an arrangement under which the Fisheries Monitoring Center of South Korea and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority will corporate at technical levels in establishing the Integrated Fisheries Monitoring System to control Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing across Liberian Waters.
This will be under the Korean official Development Assistance Project which will be implemented from 2018 to 2022.
The draft MOU, which will go into effect between Liberia and South Korea, will also ensure the establishment of a system within the Fisheries Monitoring Center under the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA).
Speaking earlier, upon their arrival in Liberia, the head of the South Korean delegation YU Byeonghyum pledged his government’s support to ensuring that illegal fishing activities in Liberian waters are drastically reduced.
Byeonghyum said the people of South Korea are under the obligation to ensure that Liberian waters are free of illegal fishing activities through a more improved ICT system, and they will make Liberians to reap the maximum benefits from their waters through the full implementation of the five years MOU.
The Head of the South Korean delegation mentioned “we are here with this MOU aimed at putting an end to illegal fishing on Liberian waters”.
For his part, the Coordinator of the West African Regional Fisheries Project (WARFP), Mr. Yevewuoz Subah stated that Illegal Unreported and Unregulated fishing is a global issue as such, there is an urgent need for it to be reduced to enable Liberians through NaFAA yield the needed revenue for the Country.
Mr. Subah recalled that Liberia has over the years experienced huge economic lost from illegal fishing; therefore, the coming of the South Koreans could help reduce the illegal activities in the fishery sector.
Meanwhile, the Acting Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, Mr. Augustine Monoballah commended the South Korean delegation for coming to Liberia to initiate discussions on how they could help reduce illegal fishing activities on Liberian waters.
Monoballah expressed hope that Liberia and South Korean would discuss other pertinent issues aimed at buttressing NaFAA, with the goal of improving other aspects of the fisheries sector.