INFOSAMAK is an intergovernmental Organization (IGO) for the provision of Fish Marketing Information and Advisory Services for the Arab Region. It started as an FAO-executed information services during the period 1984-1992, before becoming an IGO in 1993. Its membership comprises currently 8 Arab countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. Other countries (Djibouti, Egypt and Oman) have expressed interest but have not yet joined yet.

Infosamak was based in Manama – Bahrain until 2001, when it was transferred to Casablanca – Morocco. Following this transfer and the negotiations held by the Centre within the framework of Sub Committee on Fish Trade of the Committee on Fisheries (FAO), the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) agreed to reactivate the project entitled “Technical Information Services for Smallholder Fisheries and Promotion of Inter-Regional Trade”.

The objective of the Project was to improve fishery sector productivity and expand access to markets. In doing so, the Project would introduce measures for quality enhancement and certification, develop a production and marketing strategy for selected value-added products, assess investment needs and private sector investment, and strengthen the capacities of INFOSAMAK and national institutions involved in quality control and certification.

The Project comprised the following components: a) identification of markets for value-added fishery products, assessment of market requirements and opportunities in intra-regional and inter-regional markets, and market promotion;
(b) quality improvements and certification;
(c) assessment of investment needs for fish processing, inter-regional fish trade development, and for smallholder fish production including aquaculture development;
(d) strengthening the capacity of INFOSAMAK; and (e) Project supervision, monitoring and evaluation.

The project benefited to small private companies from Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen.