Improved Regional Fisheries Governance in Western Africa: EuropeAid/158370/DD/ACT/Multi

1.1      Objectives of the programme and priority issues

The global objective of the PESCAO Programme is to enhance the contribution of fisheries resources to sustainable development, food security and poverty alleviation in West Africa.

To attain these objectives, the Programme has identified three target results, which are: 

Result 1: A West African fisheries and aquaculture policy is developed and coordination of regional stakeholders is improved;

Result 2: Prevention of and responses to IUU fishing are strengthened through improved regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS); and,

Result 3: Marine resources management at the regional level is improved, building the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems to perturbations. 

This Call for Proposals is designed to address Result 3.
Therefore, the specific objective of this call for proposals is that: Marine resources management at the regional level is improved, building the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems to perturbations.

To achieve this objective, three priorities for intervention have been identified, which are as follows:

Priority 1. Improving the knowledge on the state of shared fish stocks* and/or fisheries of common interest**;
Priority 2. Developing and/or implementing management measures or plans for important shared stocks and fisheries of common interest; and,
Priority 3. Building wider social-ecological system resilience.

* A fish stock is generally understood to be a more or less reproductively discrete sub-population of a particular species of fish. For the purposes of this Call for Proposals, the term ‘shared fish stocks’ therefore describes the following[1]:
1.      fish stocks occurring within two or more EEZs, but showing no clear migratory pattern;
  1. fish stocks occurring within two or more EEZs and displaying a clear pattern of movement:
a.   resulting from seasonal migration; and/or
b.   dependent on developmental (ontogenic) stages.
** Fisheries of ‘common interest’ are defined as fisheries that exist in at least two States and which target stocks of the same or similar species, but where these stocks might not be necessarily known to be shared


[1] after Gulland, 1980

Design Principles for Proposals

Applicants to this Call can propose a programme of activities that will address one, or more than one, of the three priorities. 

More detail and guidance on the preferred types of activity is provided in Section 2.1.4, but there are five core design.

principles to clearly demonstrate in the Proposal and they are as follows:

Principle 1: Wide-ranging, accountable and equitable stakeholder participation;
Principle 2: Maintaining or establishing effective partnerships;
Principle 3: A strong focus on delivering concrete results within the Action’s time frame;
Principle 4: The design of formal strategies to communicate the results; and,
Principle 5: Ensuring the outcomes of the proposed Action have a clear regional application.

1.2      Financial allocation provided by the contracting authority

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 4,500,000. The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.
Size of grants
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:
·     Minimum amount: EUR 1,000,000
  • Maximum amount: EUR 1,500,000
Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:
·        Minimum percentage: 50 % of the total eligible costs of the action.
·        Maximum percentage: 90 % of the total eligible costs of the action (see also section 2.1.5).
The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the Contracting Authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund[1]. 


[1]    Where a grant is financed by the European Development Fund, any mention of European Union financing must be understood as referring to European Development Fund financing.

2.1 Eligible actions: actions for which an application may be made

Definition
Programmes to build the necessary capacity in the competent authorities to apply best practice stock assessment tools and fisheries management planning
An action is composed of a set of activities.
Duration
The initial planned duration of an action may not exceed 36 months.
Sectors or themes
Priority Themes:

The action shall contribute to increasing the sustainability of the use of marine resources in West Africa by enhancing scientific knowledge, and supporting the development and implementation of effective management/conservation measures. This will enhance the empowerment of fisheries stakeholders and communities, hence improving the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems.
While the details of any proposed action are for the applicant(s) to identify and to justify, three priority areas have already been identified for this Call for Proposals (Section 1.2) and activities should be designed to address at least one of these three priorities.
Location
Actions must take place in at least two of the following countries:
Benin
Cape Verde
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea Bissau

Ivory Coast
Liberia
Mauritania
Nigeria
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Togo
Types of action
  • An action shall form a coherent programme of activities.
  • An action shall focus on a specific shared fishery or a specific fishery of common interest (as defined in Section 1.2). The potential target fisheries include fisheries for small pelagic species, demersal finfish, shrimp and cephalopods.
  • Relevant competent regional fisheries bodies and national fisheries administrations should be closely associated with the design and implementation of the actions, and actions should be coherent with existing strategic plans developed at regional or national level. In particular, proposals should acknowledge the relevant recommendations of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern Central Atlantic (CECAF) and the strategies developed by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC) and Fisheries Committee for the West and Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), while the two latter organisations cannot be lead or co-applicants in the context of this call.
  • In preparing a programme of activities, applicants should consider the opportunities to enhance the understanding of the current and potential impact of climate change on the target fisheries.
Types of activity
The types of activity presented below is indicative and not exhaustive:
·                  Research cruises to generate fisheries-independent abundance indices;
·                  Population connectivity studies (e.g. through the use of genetics);
·                  Ageing studies;
·                  Life-cycle, distribution and migration studies;
·                  Collection of oceanographic and other environmental data;
·                  Climate change drivers of oceanographic & ecological change.
·                  Typology of fishing units and Frame Surveys;
·                  Species composition sampling;
·                  Length-frequency sampling;
·                  Research into standardisation of measures of fishing effort;
·                  Mapping of main fishing grounds and their use;
·                  Research into marine ecological drivers of fisher migrations;
·                  Design and piloting of fisheries data collection protocols and information systems.
·                  Observational and assessment studies of by-catch;
·                  Studies to identify opportunities to reduce by-catch;
·                  Research on coastal and marine habitats directed to improving their conservation;
·                  Implementation of collaborative marine & coastal habitat restoration programmes;
·                  Research on the value and feasibility of protected areas in the management of the target fishery(ies);
·                  Fisheries economics/trade and the relationships between fisheries of different scales;
·                  Value-chain analyses;
·                  Research on the contribution of fishermen migrations to food security;
·                  Research on the economic value of migrant vs non-migrant fishery components;
·                  Feasibility assessments of fishery certification or other incentives for improved stakeholder participation in fisheries management;
·                  Development and/or introduction of methods to reduce post-harvest losses;
·                  Development and/or introduction of novel fish-based products to target nutritionally vulnerable stakeholder groups. Identification of factors that have constrained the effective implementation of fisheries management plans in the target fishery(ies);
·                  Analyses related to the participation of the various types of stakeholder in the governance of the target fishery(ies) with due consideration of potentially marginalised stakeholders (e.g. migrant fishers);
·                  Management implementation actions (to include at least one full-cycle of best practice stock assessment);
·                  Programmes to build the necessary capacity in the competent authorities to apply best practice stock assessment tools and fisheries management planning.

Deadline: 27/02/2018 at 16:00 (Brussels date and time)

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