The Organization of African Unity is the only Pan-African political organization in Africa comprising 53 African countries. It was established in 1963 with its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The OAU organizational structure shows the position of the STRC within the entire system. The mandate is as described above. It basically operates through experts committees such as the Inter-African Committee on Oceanography and Fisheries.

Its role in conceiving and implementing this programme is essentially a supportive one at the highest political level, with the implementation of specific measures and programmes being the responsibility of existing national institutions. The STRC has operated in this way since its inception in 1963.

For the oceanography and fisheries sector important dates are:

1967: The Scientific Council for Africa (SCA) recommends the establishment of an Inter-African Experts Committee on Oceanography and Fisheries

1971: First meeting of the Experts Committee that recommended that the OAU should establish a responsible office for ocean and fisheries matters;

1990: The second formal meeting of the Experts Committee recommends that it should be extended to representatives designated by relevant international organizations interested in African ocean and marine problems;

1993: The third formal meeting of the Experts Committee adopted different recommendations on management of EEZ and harmonization of national regulations within the African Region;

1996: The fourth formal meeting of the Experts Committee dealt with coastal erosion along the African coasts, and updated knowledge on aquaculture in Africa;

1998: This was the last formal Experts Committee meeting that officially adopted the Pan-African Ocean Environment Programme and reviewed the impact of pollution on aquatic living resources in Africa.

The next meeting of the Experts Committee is scheduled to hold in April-May 2000 in Tunis, Tunisia.

The resolutions and recommendations adopted by the Inter-African Committee of Experts once endorsed by the OAU Council of Ministers constitute the guidelines usually followed by OAU Member States to develop and implement their national policy in this particular sector of activities. Furthermore, it constitutes a solid basis to coordinate ocean and marine problems within the entire African Region.

In 1998, two major conferences were organized in Africa to establish ways and means to initiate coordination and cooperation between African States for the development and protection of the coastal areas, and sustainable integrated coastal management along African oceans and seas. The ministerial segment of the Maputo Conference well known as the PAN-AFRICAN CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED COASTAL MANAGEMENT (PACSICOM), reaffirmed among other resolutions and recommendations, the African governments commitment:

1. To review the respective national policies and programmes with a view to incorporating the goals of Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment an d Development, on sustainable integrated coastal areas management;
2. To conduct periodic reviews of the legislative, substantive and institutional basis for action on the coastal and marine environment in Africa;
3. To promote systematic intergovernmental dialogue on the priority issues identified at the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management, related to sustainable integrated coastal management;
4. To address issues identified in the Statement of the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management using existing regional conventions, protocols, action plans and intergovernmental programmes on the marine and coastal environment, as well as appropriate new initiatives;
5. To promote concerted efforts, at regional level, to monitor the impacts caused by climate change and to encourage regional and international cooperation to address the impact; and
6. To ensure that effective intergovernmental agreements for the protection, management and development of shared water resources are put in place.