Yannick BAIDAI

Yannick BAIDAI is an independent international consultant in fisheries, aquatic resources governance and blue economy policy, based in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Since 2012, he has worked across West Africa and at regional level with governments, regional institutions and international organisations on the formulation, implementation and monitoring of policies and strategies for the sustainable management of fisheries resources, the development of fisheries and aquaculture value chains, and the governance of marine and coastal areas.

Between August and December 2026, he is national consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), tasked with domesticating UNECA’s blue economy assessment toolkit in Côte d’Ivoire, assessing the blue economy’s contribution to the national economy and strengthening national capacities for economic evaluation of the maritime and fisheries sectors. From January to June 2026, he conducts for COFREPECHE and the Millennium Challenge Assessment the programmatic environmental and social assessment of the Coastal Livelihoods and Climate Resilience project in Mozambique. For the FAO, he supports Guinea in preparing its blue economy strategy and investment plan, then supports Côte d’Ivoire in implementing its national blue economy transition roadmap.

Between 2021 and 2023, he carries out several missions for the Ministerial Conference on Fisheries Cooperation among African States bordering the Atlantic Ocean (COMHAFAT), in Morocco: a regional diagnostic on fish aggregating devices, a study on States’ compliance with ICCAT management measures, training of scientific observers and strengthening of statistical capacities on tuna fisheries. In 2022, he assesses marine plastic pollution linked to the maritime and fisheries sectors in Côte d’Ivoire for the GloLitter project (IMO, NORAD, FAO) and develops the national marine litter reduction action plan. From February 2022 to April 2025, he leads research, studies and development at African Marine Expertises (AMEXPERT) in Abidjan, where he leads strategic studies on fisheries management and coordinates technical teams.

A fisheries ecology researcher before moving into consulting, he was a research assistant at the Institut de recherche et de développement (IRD) in 2021, working on tropical tuna fishery dynamics, after starting as a fisheries observer and then project officer at Bigeye SARL in Abidjan from 2012 to 2015. Holder of a PhD in marine sciences from the Université de Montpellier (2020), he also holds two master’s degrees obtained in 2012, in sustainable ecosystem management (Université Nangui-Abrogoua) and in environmental engineering (IFHER/BNETD), as well as a bachelor’s degree in natural sciences from the Université d’Abobo Adjamé (2008). He is the author of numerous scientific publications in fisheries science and marine resource management, notably in Proceedings of the Royal Society B and Fisheries Research.