Partners Emphasize Cooperation, Collaboration at Ghana SFMP Meeting

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Ghana’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Hanny-Sherry Ayitey speaks with SFMP National Program Manager Kofi Agbogah, SFMP Chief of Party Brian Crawford and SFMP partner SNV’s Country Director Amanda Childress at a reception following the partners meeting Feb. 26, 2015.

More than 40 members from the nine local and international partners implementing the USAID/Ghana Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP) were joined by USAID and Government of Ghana officials at a retreat in Accra, Ghana, Feb. 25 and 26 that combined fruitful discussions, technical presentations, role-playing and sharing of knowledge and expertise.

Ghana’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Hanny-Sherry Ayitey, and other ministry officials attended a reception at SFMP’s Accra office following the retreat.

CRC is the lead implementer of the project, and the center’s Brian Crawford and Najih Lazar have relocated to Ghana as SFMP’s chief of party and national fisheries manager, respectively.

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Meeting participants enjoy a lively exchange of ideas during a meeting breakout session Feb. 26, 2015.

Objectives of the meetings were to understand better the marine fisheries context and other donor projects supporting Ghana’s sustainable fisheries efforts, to foster teamwork and activity execution and to understand policies, procedures and requirements of the five-year project. SFMP’s main objective is to rebuild Ghana’s collapsing fisheries stocks, with an initial focus on small pelagics—a key food and protein source throughout the region that is critical to Ghana’s food security. In this way, SFMP contributes to USAID/Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative.

Officials and participants acknowledged that the team has a demanding and large task before it, with difficult decisions and measures ahead. Officials and project leaders stressed that coordination and cooperation are integral to project success, particularly given the number of partners and activities. Key SFMP activities include improving legal conditions for implementing fisheries co-management, use rights and effort-reduction strategies; enhancing information systems and science-based decision-making and increasing public support and political will needed to make hard choices and change behavior. These components feed into applied management initiatives for targeted fisheries ecosystems.

Rhode Island-based CRC staff Donald Robadue, SFMP project manager; Cindy Moreau, CRC business manager; and Carol McCarthy, CRC communications specialist, traveled to Ghana to participate in the retreat. Partners embraced the spirit of collaboration solidified in the meetings and immediately got to work the next day in more informal, activity-focused meetings at SFMP’s Accra office.

Reminder: Beach SAMP Stakeholder Meeting is March 3

Don’t forget to attend the next Beach SAMP Stakeholder Meeting Tuesday, March 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Coastal Institute Auditorium, URI Narragansett Bay Campus. The topic is “How Can Coastal Engineering Contribute to Resilient Coastal Communities. Christopher P. Jones,  P.E., will address the question: “Coastal engineering can counteract some of the processes and forces attacking our shorelines and communities, but what are the practical and financial limits? Jones is a registered professional engineer specializing in coastal hazard identification, hazard mitigation and coastal engineering with more than 30 years of experience.

Pizza will be served at 5:30 p.m. RSVP to beachSAMP@etal.uri.edu

This Beach SAMP stakeholder meeting is cosponsored by RI Flood Mitigation Association (RIFMA)

Coastal Engineering Topic of Beach SAMP Meeting March 3

Christopher P. Jones,  an engineer specializing in coastal hazard identification, hazard mitigation and coastal engineering will discuss Coastal Engineering Solutions at the next Beach SAMP Stakeholder Meeting on Tuesday, March 3, from 6-8 p.m. in the Coastal Institute Auditorium on URI’s Narragansett Bay Campus.

Jones has over 30 years of experience as a practicing engineer and has worked throughout the United States and abroad on studies and projects related to flood hazard mapping and map revisions, flood loss estimation modeling, post-disaster damage investigations, flood-resistant design and construction, building codes and standards, coastal setback studies, beach management plans and beach nourishment.

If attending, RSVP to beachSAMP@etal.uri.edu

CRC Study Tour Subject of Public Radio Program

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Touring the Mississippi Delta in October 2014. (CRC photo)

A CRC-led study tour for a group of Vietnamese leaders in October 2014 is the subject of a New Orleans Public Radio program. The tour, led by CRC’s Glenn Ricci with administrative and logistical support from Cathy Dwyer, took officials from the Vietnamese government to the New York City metropolitan area and New Orleans to learn how to better adapt to sea level rise and climate change. The radio program is part of a New Orleans Public Radio mini-series, “Delta Blues: Water and Climate Change from the Mississippi to the Mekong,” which examines shared flooding and saltwater intrusion issues facing two great river deltas, the Mississippi and the Mekong, and the conversation developing between them to address those challenges.about the delta region and climate change.

University Partner in Ghana Awarded USAID Capacity Development Grant

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), a frequent funding partner of CRC, officially committed $5.5 million dollars to the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana for a five-year program in fisheries and coastal management capacity development. Last month two UCC officials visited CRC and URI to explore how best to implement such a program. The visit was arranged as part of the CRC-led, USAID-funded Sustainable Fisheries Management Project (SFMP) in Ghana. One of the objectives of that five-year, $24-million project is to strengthen UCC’s fisheries and coastal management department by hosting at URI up to 10 masters and doctoral students from UCC, sponsoring other student and faculty exchanges, conducting joint research and holding a fisheries leadership course in Ghana that draws on URI’s experiences.

This new USAID award will fund the creation of  a coastal management center at UCC. You can read the the local Ghanaian media reports here:

http://vibeghana.com/2015/02/01/ucc-usaid-to-improve-fisheries-coastal-management-in-ghana/

http://news.peacefmonline.com/pages/social/201502/230872.php