Mozambique: Illegal fishing boats seized in Bazaruto archipelago

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Illegal fishing boats seized in Bazaruto archipelago

4:27 CAT | 02 Nov 2020

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Mozambique Tourism]

So far this year, rangers in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane have seized 28 boats fishing illegally in the park’s protected waters, according to the park’s administrator, Armando Nguenha, cited by the independent television station, STV.

The national park consists of all five islands in the archipelago, and the entire surrounding ocean, covering a total area of 1,400 square kilometres.

Nguenha said illegal fishing is a constant challenge for the park’s rangers, who often have to pursue the illicit fishing boats at night.

“It was about 03.00 when we made the most recent seizure”, Nguenha told STV. “They were fishing on the high seas by day, but at around midnight, they entered the fully protected areas around the islands. We caught them because we have rangers who work 24 hours a day”.

The Park is using buoys to mark the protected area. 29 buoys have been acquired, at a cost of over 86,000 US dollars. They are being anchored along the perimeter of the protected area. The Park administration hopes that the buoys will warn local fishermen to keep away from the protected area.

The buoys were launched at a ceremony off the coast of Vilanculo district chaired by the Inhambane Provincial Governor, Daniel Chapo.

Chapo noted that the lack of physical markers had always made managing the park difficult. But he recognised that buoys alone will not be enough to prevent illegal fishermen entering the park’s waters. He called on all of Inhambane society to cooperate in protecting the park and its wild life.

The Bazaruto Archipelago is the only place on the east African coast where all five Indian Ocean species of sea turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. It is also home to a population of over 250 dugongs, an endangered species of marine mammal.

Source: AIM