© 2018 AU-IBAR. The Minister, MOLAH, Honourable Mr. Abdullahi Sheikh Ahmed Addressing the Livestock Stakeholders.Bossaso, 26^th March 2018: AU-IBAR and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations with financial support from the European Union (EU) have rehabilitated the Bossaso slaughter house which will improve meat marketing and incomes for livestock dependent households in Puntland. The rehabilitation of the slaughter house was carried out under the EU funded "Enhancing Somali Livestock Trade (ESOLT) project". The project was jointly implemented by AU-IBAR, FAO and the Federal and regional Ministries responsible for Livestock.

The facility was handed over to the Ministry of Livestock and Animal Husbandry (MoLAH) of the Puntland State of Somalia in a ceremony that was held at the site in Bossaso, Puntland. In attendance were the Minister, MOLAH, Honourable Abdullahi Sheikh Ahmed, the Governor of Bari region Mr. Yusuf Dhedo and Mayor for Bossaso Mr. Abdisalah Bashir Abdisalah, livestock traders among other key livestock stakeholders. The leaders accompanied by the assembled livestock stakeholders toured the facility and gave it a clean bill of health. The local leaders urged the traders to use the facility to its full capacity and for their benefit. The leaders lauded the initiative and pledged to support it to ensure its sustainability and benefit for the Somali community. The Mayor emphasized that the Bossaso slaughterhouse provides an opportunity for traders to upscale from traditional slaughter methods to more modern slaughter practices that will add value to their animals and fetch better prices while providing safer meat. The ceremony culminated in the signing of the transfer documents in the governor's office at Bossaso.

© 2018 AU-IBAR. Preparatory Meeting of Experts - Verification Visits to Institutions for Selection as Africa Centres of Excellence in Fisheries and Aquaculture, 15th-16th March 2018 AU-IBAR Office Nairobi, Kenya.Introduction

A preparatory meeting of Experts to undertake verification visits to shortlisted institutions for selection as Africa Centres of Excellence in Fisheries and Aquaculture was organised by the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) within the provisions of the Fisheries Governance Project with support from European Union.

The meeting was held from the 15^th to 16^th March 2018 at AU-IBAR offices in Nairobi, Kenya and was a follow-up to the recommendations from related meetings held in 2016 in Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania and also in 2017 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The main objectives of this preparatory meeting were to:

• Formulate Terms of References (ToRs) and criteria for scoring for the expert verification assessment of the short-listed institutions
• Agree on a harmonized and approach for the verification missions
• Undertake preliminary review of the submitted dossiers by the short-listed institutions against the formulated criteria for scoring

Participation

The meeting was attended by 8 Experts namely: Mr. Etienne Hinrichsen- AquaEco, South Africa; Dr. Paul Onyango- University of Dar es salaam, Tanzania; Mr. Ben Kiddu- Technical Manager WAFICOS, Uganda; Dr. Hangombe Bernard Mudenda, University of Zambia; Dr. Daniel Adjei-Boateng- ‎Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; Prof. Abdel-Fattah El-Sayed– Alexandria University, Egypt; Dr. Andrew Baio – University of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone; Dr Modibo Traore, retired Director of AU-IBAR and the Technical Team Leader of the Verfication Mission. Also in attendance were also staff from AU-IBAR, Prof Ahmed El-sawahly- Director of AU-IBAR, Dr Mohamed Seisay- Senior Fisheries Officer; Dr Nelly Isyagi- Aquaculture Officer and Ms Hellen Moepi- Project Assistant Fisheries Governance.

© 2018 AU-IBAR. Validation of the Framework for Institutional Collaboration on Fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) in the East Africa-Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (EA-SA-IO) Region 7th to 9th March, 2018 Gaborone, Botswana.Introduction

A regional consultative workshop on Establishing institutional collaboration on fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance in the East Africa-Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Region (EA-SA-IO), was organized by the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and the NEPAD Agency in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with the support from the European Union from the 7^th to 9^th March 2018 in Gaborone, Botswana.

The workshop was organised as a follow-up to the recommendations and requests from Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFB) and the Member states (MS) from the EA-SA-Io region to AU-IBAR in a meeting that was held in Maputo Mozambique, 9^th to 11^th May 2016 with view to strengthening the region’s institutional collaboration on MCS and sharing of lessons learnt and best practices in fisheries management. In response to this request the AU-IBAR engaged the services of the consulting firm OLSPS Marine from South Africa to put together a draft regional framework for institutional collaboration and propose a regional mechanism for information sharing on MCS, lessons learnt and best practices in fisheries management in the EA-SA-IO region for further elaboration. The drafts were submitted to RECs for review and comment by AU-IBAR.

Upon AU-IBAR receiving feedback and the consultant incorporating comments received on the draft, this consultative workshop was organized. The objectives of the workshop were to:

• undertake further consultations to review and validate the draft framework.
• share success stories, lessons learnt and best practices in the fisheries sector of the EA-SA-IO region.
• identify the potential challenges, opportunities and priority actions for implementation of the framework.
• develop a mechanism for information sharing and operationalizing the framework.

© 2018 AU-IBAR. Consultative Workshop on Enhancing Regional Capacity for Fisheries Observer and Fishing Vessel Register Programmes (With Discussions on Coastal, Port and Flag States Measures) 7th-9th February 2018 Mombasa, Kenya.Introduction

A consultative workshop on enhancing regional capacity for fisheries observer and fishing vessel register programmes (including interactive discussions on coastal, port and flag states measures) was organized by African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR). The meeting was held in collaboration with the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) and with support from the EU within the provision of the FISHGOV project.

The meeting was held from the 7^th to 9^th February 2018 at Bamburi Beach Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.

The overall objective of this workshop was to reinforce the capacity of African Union coastal states for effective implementation of fisheries observer and fishing vessel register programmes.

The specific objectives were to:

• Train AU Member States on the duties, obligation and responsibilities of fisheries observers onboard fishing vessels at sea based on the manuals developed.
• Share perspectives on the effective and sustainable implementation of regional fisheries observers and regional fishing vessel programmes.
• Demonstrate the application of a database on regional fishing vessel that has been developed by AU-IBAR.
• Deepen understanding and implications of the basic tenets of coastal, port and flag states measures and develop priority actions for effective implementation.