Tanzania Lucrative Tuna Stocks - But No Enforcementff

From All Africa

Tanzanian Prime Minister Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda, who has been on a weeklong visit to Namibia, was in Walvis Bay on Wednesday where he showed interest in the way Namibia governs its marine resources especially the pertinent problem of illegal fishing.

According to the visiting Premier, Tanzania has large tuna fish stocks but does not have an active enforcement method to ensure that the country gets maximum benefit from its marine natural resources.

He said the problem of illegal fishing is especially rife with the tuna fish species, which attracts a huge market from the Far East and from some European markets.

Illegal foreign fishing operations in the Indian Ocean are said to be costing the East African country severely. Poor control mechanisms in licensing, monitoring and setting of fishing quotas are said to be among major factors contributing to a crippling loss of over U$220m per year through illegal foreign fishing, according to a 2007 European Union report on the fishing sector of Tanzania.

Tanzania exported to EU countries about 30 420 tons of fish fillets and other fish products in 2005, earning the country some Euros 115.3 million in foreign exchange.

Although no data is currently available in Tanzania on fishing activities in the EEZ, the World Bank estimates that the illegal trawlers are catching tuna and other species of fish with a total value of more than $220-m each year.

According to the report, at one point in 2006, more than 20 foreign fishing vessels from countries like Kenya, South Africa, Russia and other parts of Europe, and as far as China and Japan were believed to be plying Tanzanian territorial waters and involved in lucrative tuna-fishing activities unhindered.

The EU-Tanzania fisheries agreement is partly intended to collect data on marine fisheries and introduce fishing controls for the country’s EEZ, which is currently dominated by illegal foreign fishing trawlers, said the Premier.

The Prime Minister and his delegation arrived Wednesday at the coastal port of Walvis Bay, where he toured the industrial area of the town as part of his four-day working visit.