A coalition of international organizations has launched the West Africa Sustainable Ocean Programme to tackle the region’s deepening fisheries decline. Led by the IUCN (the global wildlife conservation authority), the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), the WASOP initiative aims to curb illegal fishing, restore marine ecosystems, and promote a sustainable blue economy. More than half of the fish stocks in West Africa are being unsustainably exploited according to the FAO. The problem lies in both domestic and international overfishing. The depletion of fish stocks is threatening livelihoods across the region; roughly 15% of the GDP of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) depends on fishing an

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