Mozambique will restrict access to the sea in 2017 to capitalize on potential – Minister

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique will restrict access to the sea in 2017 to capitalize on potential – Minister

10:56 CAT | 04 Jan 2017

WWF / Oyvind Mikalsen / Trawlers in fishing port Mozambique (Beira)

The Mozambican government is to regulate access to the sea as of this year. In order to capitalize on the potential of the Mozambican coast, access to the sea for fishing or research will cease to be free.

The new policy addresses the fact that Mozambican maritime waters are now exploited without a regulatory framework, the Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Agostinho Mondlane explains.

The Government will change the situation by means of a set of legal regulations still to be discussed in depth. One of the proposed guidelines is that access to the sea be subject to government authorization.

“By 2017, the major challenges are to align the Law of the Sea with a more comprehensive approach. The Law in force was drafted with a view to developing maritime transport activity, but the law currently being prepared looks at the full potential. We must also submit the Strategic Policy for the Sea to the Government this year,” Mondlane has announced.

Within the same regulatory framework, the Government plans this year to consider maritime concessions, with rules of access like the rules of access to land, reports O País.

As to fishery production, Mondlane says that, despite the drought reducing catch capacity, there were improvements last year compared to 2015, with production up by four percent thanks to the motorization of 400 smaller vessels.

It is estimated that the sea represents up to 40 percent of the national territory and that its potential as a resource is still under-exploited.

Source: O País