Approaching the entry into force of the Torremolinos International Convention for the Safety of Fishing Vessels, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is pushing ahead and implementing a policy of raising awareness and encouraging countries to ratify this important Convention.

Taking into account that the majority of lives lost at sea are concerned with fishing activity, the major provider of employment and the poorest segment of all maritime activities, the best way to reduce these losses is to strengthen safety among the fishing fleet.

Thus the IMO will run a regional workshop in Agadir (Morocco) from 9th to 11th April 2014, which will be attended by officials from the countries of Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco.

The workshop's main objective is to encourage maritime countries with high fishing activity to adopt this agreement, which aims to improve navigation conditions, ship safety and fishermen's working practices.

This workshop will be facilitated by two IMO consultants, Gudmundsson Ari and Nunezsanchez Migueljuan, from Iceland and Spain respectively.