In this article, the author delves into the impacts of climate change and other challenges for São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) small-scale fishing communities. To develop the sector, the government is looking to develop offshore artisanal fishing. The author examines the factors that need to be considered for the upcoming renewal of the protocol of the EU-STP Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA).

In this article, Pieter van Welzen argues that states have an obligation to act against their nationals who are beneficial owners and are involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated IUU fishing activities. For this, the author talks about the challenges for flag and coastal states to fight against IUU fishing in many cases, introduces indications in international law for beneficial owner state responsibility and summarizes key state practice.

West Africa has pioneered several decades of artisanal fisheries management reform. Yet there are still major obstacles to co-management: a lack of political will reflected in low budgetary allocations; inadequate and poorly targeted support for fisher organizations; poorly defined roles and responsibilities of fishers in co-management; lack of enforcement of inshore exclusive zones; and inadequate defense of human rights and particularly the important role of women.

The Commission’s SFPA evaluation concludes that they are“fit for purpose” and identifies areas for improvement in the implementation of the governance framework. Most of these areas are under the responsibility of the partner country, which suggests that there is a lack of commitment from some partner countries to make these fishing agreements a success.

In a contribution sent to the European Commission, co-signed with 8 other civil society and environmental organisations, we highlight the most important points to be taken into account for the renewal of the protocol, to ensure that the fishing agreement has a positive impact for small-scale coastal fishing communities.