The EAF-Nansen Project “Strengthening the Knowledge Base for and Implementing an Ecosystem Approach to Marine Fisheries in Developing Countries” (GCP/INT/003/NOR) is an initiative to support the implementation of the ecosystem approach in the management of marine fisheries. The aim is to promote sustainable utilization of marine living resources and improved protection of the marine environment.

Notionally, the project started in December 2006 but substantively from early 2008 and has a five-year time frame. The project is executed by FAO in close collaboration with the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) of Bergen, Norway and funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

The EAF-Nansen Project is set to strengthen regional and country specific efforts to reduce poverty and create conditions to assist in the achievement of food security through development of sustainable fisheries management regimes and specifically through the application of the ecosystem approach to fisheries in a number of developing countries. The initial focus of the project is on Sub-Saharan Africa.

The project is a means to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) related to eradication of poverty and hunger while simultaneously ensuring environmental sustainability.