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Rabat – The UN and Morocco seek to consolidate their partnership in the field of marine sciences and fisheries research.
The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) under the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) signed a cooperation agreement on Thursday with the National Fisheries Research Institute (INRH) and Mohammed I University in Oujda, Eastern Morocco.
The partnership agreement seeks to boost training and research in the field of marine sciences and fisheries in the Mediterranean region.
The organizations signed the agreement on International Earth Day, the GFCM said.
The agreement seeks to allow each organization to deploy specific skills and approaches.
Under the agreement, the Moroccan university will contribute to technical training, while the fisheries research institute will boost research capacities.
The UN’s GFCM will share its expertise and will publish research results and outcomes at regional levels.
A joint research unit will be implemented at Mohammed I University, focusing on developing training and research in marine sciences.
The research unit’s objective is to meet the needs and challenges discussed during the GFCM Forum on Fisheries Sciences in the Mediterranean and Black Seas in 2018.
The research unit will monitor and evaluate the outcomes of research projects, training, and educational programs.
The unit also seeks to contribute to the objectives of the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences in the service of sustainable development 2021-2030.
The memorandum of agreement will mark the launch of a Master’s program in Marine Sciences at Mohammed V University.
Abdellah Srour, Executive Secretary at GFCM said the memorandum of agreement will contribute to the “next generation of researchers and decision-makers in the region.”
The GFCM Technical unit for the Western Mediterranean vowed to support the implementation of the memorandum of understanding.
FAO considers Morocco a leader of the fisheries sector.
An overview on the sector by FAO explains that Moroccan coasts are “fringed in the North by the Mediterranean Sea and the West by the Atlantic Ocean.”
The overview explained that the fisheries sector is one of the pioneering fields in Morocco, providing direct jobs to 200,000 people and “supplying about 25 percent of animal protein intake in the country.”
The sector also contributes to Morocco’s GDP by 2%.
