Events

The CCLME Project became operational on 1 April 2010. The CCLME Inception Workshop and first Project Steering Committee Meeting were organized to gather all countries and project partners to assess the CCLME work plan and the activities undertaken in the region.

The events were organised at the Pullman Teranga Hotel in Dakar, Senegal.

For more information, contact the CCLME RCU.

Group photo - CCLME inception workshop, 2-3 November 2010:

Group photo - First CCLME PSC meeting, 4 November 2010:

The second Biodiversity Habitat and Water Quality Working group meeting of the CCLME project will be held at the Baobab Holiday Resort of Banjul, The Gambia from 12 to 14 March 2013. Thirty persons included the representatives of the seven countries and partners of CCLME,FAO, UNEP and the Abidjan Convention will gather under the theme " Marine and coastal habitats of CCLME: a challenge for a large marine ecosystem”. It will be opened by the Ministers of Forests and environment, her Excellency Ms. Fatou Ndeye Gaye and the representative of the minister of Fisheries and Water resources of the Gambia. Given the importance of this theme, central for the component in particular and the project in general, representatives of the countries and their partners will make presentations describing the habitats found in the marine and coastal area of CCLME.

Participants of the meeting will have the opportunity visit mangrove rehabilitation sites in the Bintang Bolong realized by the CCLME project and the UNEP/ Abidjan Convention in collaboration with Wetlands International and the World Union for Nature

CCLME Project Steering Committee will hold its third annual meeting on 29 and 30 November 2012 in the « Instituto Español de Oceanografía » (Spanish Institute of Oceanography) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. The meeting will bring together the focal points and national technical coordinators of the seven countries covered by the CCLME (Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Morocco, and Senegal) as well as various partners of CCLME. The reports of Climate Change, Habitat, Biodiversity and water quality, survey analysis and planning, the stocks (pelagic and demersal) working groups will be presented. CCLME will also present its activity report for the past year and the 2013 work plan. This year the Steering committees meetings of EAF NANSEN and CCLME are hold back to back enabling the members of EAF NANSEN steering committee to attend CCLME’s meeting.

The second Steering Committee meeting of the project CCLME will be held on the next 28 and 29 November in Novotel Casa City Center Hotel of Casablanca, Morocco. Technical coordinators and national focal points of the seven countries CCLME (Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal) are expected as well as project partners. During the meeting, reports from CCLME ADT, Climate Change, survey planning and demersal stock  working groups will be presented and the priotity transboundary issues of the CCLME countries will be identified. The CCLME will also present the status of implementation of the project and its 2012 work plan.

From 4 to 18 June 2011, the CCLME project in cooperation with the EAF-Nansen project organized an ecosystemic survey in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cape Verde. 18 researchers boarded the research vessel Dr. Fridjtof Nansen in Mindelo (Cape Verde). Of the 18 researchers who took part, nine were from the countries of the CCLME: seven form Cape Verde, one Mauritania and one from Morocco. Over the duration of the two weeks cruise, the regional researchers received hands-on trainaing in the deployment of trawl gear, the monitoring of acoustic equipment and teh sampling of environmental parameters. Other members of teh scientific team were from Norway, the USA, Spain and the UK. Thes were specialists in taxonomy, benthic research and ornithology.

A second research survey was conduceted from Dr Fridjtof Nansen between 22 June and 7 July. This survey began in Saint Louis, Senegal and ended in Guinea. The objective was to assess the main small pelagic stocks of the CCLME region in collaboration with the Mauritanian and Moroccan research vessels (Al Awam and Al Amir Moulay Abdallah, respectively).

The CCLME project will establish a number of technical working groups to assist in guiding the process of developing a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the CCLME.

The Ecosystem Survey Planning and Analysis Working Group will lead the coordination of research cruises in the CCLME region and discuss the analysis to undertake of the collected data. The first meeting of this working group was held in Dakar, Senegal on 29-30 October 2010 and scheduled a number of surveys to take place in the CCLME region in 2011.

This second meeting will finalize the preparations for the 2011 surveys. The meeting will be held after the FAO/CECAF Working Group on Stock Assessment of Pelagic Resources that will take place in Casablanca, Morocco, 24-29 May 2011.

The CCLME project will estabish  a number of technical working groups to assist in guiding the process of developing a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the CCLME.

This group will lead the TDA process and the finalization of the TDA, it will maintain close interactions and requires appropriate inputs to the TDA from the other Working Groups, demonstration activities and other activities of the project.

CCLME participating countries and partners are currently in the process of nominating representatives to participate in this group.

A training will be organized for country representatives,TDA Working Group members and relevant project staff in the TDA/SAP development process.

The CCLME project will establish a number of technical working groups to assist in guiding the process of developing a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) and a Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for the CCLME.

The task of this working group will be to ensure that the TDA Working Group has the critical information on climate change impact and adaptation necessary for inclusion in the TDA and SAP.

CCLME participating countries and partners are currently in the process of nominating representatives to participate in this group.

Four events were jointly organized in Dakar by the EAF Nansen project and the CCLME project. These events took place before the CCLME Inception Workshop and the PSC Meeting. The events were attended by representatives from all seven CCLME countries as well as a few partner institutions.

The EAF-Nansen project is a very important partner to the CCLME project especially for its activities in relation to off-shore surveys.

20-26 October 2010: Training in the survey logging and analysis tool "Nansis"

27-28 October 2010: CCLME scientific surveys planning meeting

29-30 October 2010: Planning Group Meeting for the Coordination of Acoustic Surveys off Northwest Africa

1 November 2010: EAF Nansen Project Steering Committee Meeting for the CCLME region

For more information on the EAF-Nansen project, visit the EAF-Nansen project website

The CCLME project  will organize the third meeting of the Biodiversity Habitat and Water Quality Working Group from 23 to 25 September 2014 at Novotel Hotel of Casablanca in Morocco.

This meeting will offer the opportunity to validate of the works undertaken under the Biodiversity Habitat and Water Quality component of CCLME. The works will focus on the following topics:

1. Political and legal measures to protect Biodiversity, Habitat and Water Quality in the CCLME area
2. Development of a geo-referenced database and the production of map on habitats and biodiversity
3. Assessment of the state of the biodiversity in the CCLME region
4. Emergency plan to prevent and mitigate marine pollution in the CCLME region
5. Assessment of  land based activities that can be sources of coastal and marine pollution