Mozambique paying heavy price for illegal fishing

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Mozambique paying heavy price for illegal fishing

8:09 CAT | 10 Aug 2018

File photo (For illustration purposes only ) / Notícias

The Mozambican government recognises that illegal fishing is compromising the marine environment and is taking steps to counter the practice. According to the Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Agostinho Mondlane, “this situation takes place under our complicit gaze which prefers to live and let live with practices detrimental to the State, ignoring, or pretending to ignore, that the main victims are the Mozambican people”.

The Minister said that it is up to the government, civil society, and other partners to work together with coastal communities so that fishing takes place in a rational and responsible manner. Mondlane lamented, “we are witnessing the destruction of the mangroves and other ecosystems which is clearly detrimental to the maritime environment”.

The Minister was speaking on Thursday in Maputo at a national meeting with civil society organisations working on coastal areas and the sea.

He assured the audience that the government is acting against wrongdoers but recognised that these efforts require the involvement of civil society and its national and international partners.

The meeting will discuss creating an observatory of the marine economy. It takes place ten months after President Filipe Nyusi launched the government’s “Policy and Strategy of the Sea” (POLMAR), aimed at strengthening state sovereignty over Mozambican waters, and developing a “blue, profitable and sustainable economy at sea”.

Resulting from a broad process of public consultation, POLMAR is an instrument to strengthen the state’s capacity in maritime governance, including the defence of the environment, and preserve territorial integrity and defence of national sovereignty.

Among the measures taken is the introduction of licencing for commercial fishing with the funds raised used to support the work of fisheries inspection and to preserve the aquatic environment.

In June, Mondlane estimated Mozambique is losing at least 60 million US dollars a year due to illegal fishing. He declared that unity between African counties bordering the Indian Ocean would be one of the most effective ways of fighting illegal and unreported fishing. Therefore, he welcomed the decision to select Mozambique as the host country for the Regional Fishing Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Centre of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The centre will be in the Maputo urban district of Katembe, and Mondlane declared its purpose is “to do away with illicit activity in the region”.

Mozambique has almost 3,000 kilometres of coastline and the sea provides an income and nourishment for numerous people along the coast.

Source: AIM