Morocco’s State Secretariat for Maritime Fisheries has launched an international tender for the design and deployment of a comprehensive digital governance system for the fisheries sector, covering the full value chain from vessel departure to export certification.
The initiative, reported by Le Matin daily on Tuesday, represents the most ambitious digital transformation of the fisheries sector since the launch of the national Halieutis strategy in 2009, and is driven by the convergence of tightened national regulations, new European import certification requirements, and obligations flowing from international fisheries management organizations.
The project is structured around two interconnected modules. The first is an integrated application for fisheries information management, catch certification, and traceability, designed to handle the approximately 700,000 catch declarations and 33,000 certificates processed annually. The second is a vessel activity declaration and monitoring application, built around real-time satellite surveillance and electronic logbook systems. Together, the two systems will create a unified digital ecosystem connecting Morocco’s fleet of more than 2,600 coastal, deep-sea, and RSW vessels — plus approximately 17,000 traditional fishing boats — with port authorities, export services, and institutional partners.
The European dimension is an explicit driver. The EU — Morocco’s primary export market for fisheries products — adopted a reinforced catch certification regulation that raises the standard for documentation of fishing zones, transhipment operations, and transformation steps, and requires importers to use certified electronic systems. For Morocco, whose fisheries export relationship with Europe is governed both by the bilateral Association Agreement and by the Morocco-EU Fisheries Protocol, full compliance with these new standards is a strategic imperative for maintaining market access. Similar obligations flow from membership in ICCAT, CGPM, and FAO-based frameworks.
The vessel monitoring system is described as the project’s most strategically significant dimension. Dynamic cartography, automated alerts, and continuous fleet supervision dashboards will give Morocco’s inspection services tools to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing — a global problem that both undermines marine resource sustainability and distorts competitive conditions for legitimate operators. Interoperability with European and international control systems is explicitly required, as is interconnection with national institutions including ONSSA, Customs, CNSS, TGR, and the National Institute for Fisheries Research.
The procurement design reflects the government’s determination to build lasting institutional capacity rather than dependence on an external provider: all source codes, associated software, and technical documentation will become the property of the State Secretariat upon delivery. This condition of technological sovereignty mirrors the approach adopted in other recent digital infrastructure projects and positions Morocco to adapt, extend, and maintain the system independently once deployed. The project is expected to support Morocco’s ambition to become a regional reference in sustainable fisheries governance, a role that its Atlantic and Mediterranean resource base, its EU partnership, and its growing investment in sector modernization make increasingly plausible.
