The Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries project (SWIOFP) will be financed by a US$12 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which was endorsed by the GEF Council on April 5, 2007.

The proposed project will help promote sustainable use of fish resources through adoption by the Southwest Indian Ocean-riparian countries of a large marine ecosystem (LME)-based ecosystem approach to fisheries management in the Agulhas and Somali LMEs that recognizes the importance of preserving biodiversity.

The SWIOFP aims to generate scientific knowledge and develop the core legal and institutional capacity needed to implement an action plan in order to manage these fisheries for maximum economic returns, consistent with a management strategy that stresses environmental sustainability and socially equitable distribution of the benefits of exploitation.

“The project will adopt an ecosystem approach which will lead to an improved understanding of transboundary and environmental influences on stock health, the life histories of key species and variability in inter-annual estimates of stock abundance,” said William Leeds Lane, the World Bank Task Team Leader of the project.

The Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries project will focus on the following components:

Data gap analysis, data archiving and information technology will help establish a regional data management system for the participating and observer countries in the SWIOFP.

Assessment and sustainable utilization of crustaceans aims to undertake an assessment of the stock dynamics of shallow and deep water crustaceans and their fisheries.

Assessment and sustainable utilization of demersal fishes will support assessment of the stock dynamics of demresal species and their fisheries.

Assessment and sustainable utilization of pelagic fish will assess the stock dynamics of large, small and mesopelagic species and develop strategies to optimize small and large scale pelagic fisheries, including fish aggregating devices.

Mainstreaming biodiversity in national and regional fisheries management will include specific activities that lead to an understanding of the overall relationships between fisheries and biodiversity processes and species diversity and how these relationships can be managed at the national and regional levels.

Strengthening regional and national fisheries management will support the emerging regional fisheries management framework in the SWIO and build capacity in regional and national fisheries management bodies. It will also assist with the regional harmonization of national fisheries regulations.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a mechanism for providing new and additional grant and concessional funding to meet the agreed incremental costs of measures to achieve agreed global environmental benefits in the six focal areas - Climate change, Biodiversity, International waters, Ozone, Land degradation, and Persistent organic pollutants. GEF also supports the work of the global agreements to combat desertification and eliminate persistent organic pollutants.

The World Bank Group is one of GEF’s implementing agencies and supports countries in preparing GEF co-financed projects and supervises their implementation. It plays the primary role in ensuring the development and management of investment projects. The Bank draws upon its investment experience in eligible countries to promote investment opportunities and to mobilize private sector, bilateral, multilateral, and other government and non-government sector resources that are consistent with GEF objectives and national sustainable development strategies. Since 1991, the World Bank Group has committed $1.972 billion in GEF resources and $3.037 billion in Bank group co-financing for GEF projects in 80 countries. In addition to GEF and Bank resources, it has mobilized additional co-financing of $6.952 billion from other donors. -The World Bank