Mozambique: Government wants sustainable aquaculture

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Mozambique: Government wants sustainable aquaculture

10:21 CAT | 24 Nov 2020

Photo: Ministério do Mar, Águas Interiores e Pescas

Mozambique’s Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Augusta Maita, declared on Saturday, in the southern city of Matola, that the government wants fish farming to move on “from merely artisanal aquaculture to commercial and sustainable aquaculture”.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark World Fisheries Day, Maita said that for this dream to become reality “we need partnerships with the private sector, we need to create incentives and to be sustainable”.

Private investment, she added, is needed in such areas as the production of fingerlings and of fish food, since the cost of imports threatens to suffocate local aquaculture producers.

Maita was optimistic about the future of aquaculture in Mozambique, but thought it important to improve the legal framework so that aquaculture can be practiced in a responsible manner, and all the biosecurity questions associated with aquaculture can be handled correctly.

A message from President Filipe Nyusi urged greater vigilance against illegal fishing and practices that damage the sustainability of fisheries.

Fisheries produce was an important part of a balanced diet, but Nyusi stressed the need to preserve the marine environment. He warned against overfishing, which can destroy fish stocks, and against pollution.

“If we fish responsibly, we develop Mozambique”, he said. “Climate change and the preservation of the environment demand from all of us the capacity to adapt our fishing practices”.

One damaging practice is violating the closed season which the government has imposed on the fishing of several species. According to a report on the independent television station STV, on Sunday the Economic Activities Services in the central province of Sofala seized two boats that had been fishing illegally for mangrove crabs at the Rio Maria beach in the city of Beira.

Crab fishing is currently in its closed season, which does not end until December. The inspectors found 500 kilos of crabs on board the two boats. The fishermen on board the boats fled when the inspectors approached, but the authorities are confident they can locate them.

The chief inspector of fisheries in Sofala, Cesar Maposse, said the fishermen concerned had not only violated the closed season, but had been fishing without a licence.

The incident had a happy outcome for the crabs. They were still alive, and the inspectors released them back into the ocean.

Source: AIM