The International Monitoring Control and Surveillance (MCS) Network will partner with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to convene the 7th Global Fisheries Enforcement Training Workshop (GFETW) from 30 July — 04 August, 2023 at the Halifax Convention Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This represents the first time that the GFETW has been hosted in North America. We are thrilled to welcome each of you and look forward to finally meeting in person after two event postponements. The global COVID-19 pandemic and OMICRON outbreak has kept us apart for too long, but we promise to make 2023 the best meeting in GFETW history!

The theme for the 2023 in-person GFETW is:

“MOVING FROM WORDS TO ACTION” Innovative Collaborative Partnerships to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing”

One of the key challenges for effective MCS is communication, cooperation, and coordination – within States, amongst States, amongst regional regimes, and with civil society. Recent developments in the fight against IUU fishing indicate that there is sufficient appetite amongst States to advance regional and global approaches to MCS and establish greater public-private partnerships. At a national level, States have begun to develop mechanisms that allow for inter-agency cooperation and coordination, for example between fisheries agencies, customs and tax authorities, navy and coast guard, and the police and prosecuting authorities.