We emerged as one of the beneficiaries of The Sustainable Fisheries Solutions & Retrieval Support Contribution Program Funding (SFSRSCP) through the Fishing Net Gains West Africa project (FNG-WA).  A project designed to identify and tackle the issues of ghost gear and other related threats to marine life.

The Government of Canada is working hard to protect oceans and the marine life. Their target is to protect 25% of the oceans by 2025, and 30% by 2030. They are also working to increase marine protections from coast to coast as well as getting rid of harmful wastes.  To combat these threats, the Fisheries and Ocean Canada, which is the federal lead for safeguarding waters and managing Canada’s fisheries, funded projects in Canada as well as internationally, through The Sustainable Fisheries Solutions and Retrieval Support Contribution Program (SFSRSCP) emerged.

The aim of SFSRSCP or Ghost Gear Fund is to achieve a healthy, sustainable and economic productivity of fish stocks and ecosystems by promoting awareness  and involvement in relevant domestic and international commitments in support of conservation, protection and restoration of fish stocks and ecosystems.

The Ghost Gear Fund will support projects over two years (2020-2022) , and all projects fall under at least one of the four themes, or pillars of activity which include:

• Ghost Gear Retrieval
• Responsible Disposal
• Acquisition and Piloting of available technology and
• International Leadership

SOFER Initiative successfully emerged as one of the beneficiaries of this grant through the Fishing Net Gains West Africa project (FNG-WA). A project designed to identify and tackle the issues of ghost gear and other related threats to marine life.

The FNG-WA project is designed to cover two major cities in Nigeria. (Lagos and Bayelsa) with various activities ranging from

• The recovery of lost fishing gears
• Training of divers and volunteers
• Stakeholders workshops
• Craft Workshop
• HubNet Construction and
• The Fishing Net Gains West Africa (FNG-WA) Conference

The FNG-WA project would run for 2 years and will end in March, 2022.

We are grateful to the Government of Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) for this award and we look forward to playing our own part towards contributing to the target goal of protecting 25% of the oceans by 2025.

Join us in this exciting journey as we continue to raise awareness to the public on the impacts of Abandoned, Lost or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gears (ALDFGs).