Addis Ababa, August 12, 2025 (FMC) — The Director of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) Environment and Agriculture Division, Daher Elmi, has urged member states to adopt a coordinated regional approach to fisheries governance, warning that weak regulation and illegal fishing are undermining the sector’s growth.
Speaking at the opening of the IGAD Regional Fisheries and Blue Economy Consultation Workshop in Addis Ababa, Elmi said the region has an annual fish production potential of more than 3.5 million tonnes but produces only about one million tonnes, with over 85 percent coming from inland waters.
He noted that marine resources in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Western Indian Ocean remain largely untapped.
“The fisheries sector remains underdeveloped and poorly regulated,” Elmi said, citing fragmented policies, poor infrastructure, and ineffective monitoring.
He pointed to high post-harvest losses, limited value addition, and the prevalence of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing — particularly in Somali waters — as major challenges.
Elmi highlighted IGAD’s pilot co-management projects on Lake Turkana, shared by Kenya and Ethiopia, and the Baro-Akobo-Sobat River Basin, shared by Ethiopia and South Sudan, as encouraging examples of transboundary cooperation. He also reaffirmed IGAD’s commitment to supporting member states’ Blue Economy strategies with backing from partners such as Sweden’s SIDA.
He welcomed the proposal to establish a regional Fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre, drawing lessons from other African regional models, and expressed confidence that the three-day workshop will produce a clear roadmap for strengthening fisheries governance and sustainability in the Greater Horn of Africa.