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Marine fisheries deserve protection as heritage
2008-07-09 09:27:33
By Editor
A defenceless homestead is just as good as a deserted one, as it is vulnerable to all manner of risks, real or imaginary.
It means a lot having defensive institutions and mechanisms in place, and later on assesses their strengths or weaknesses, than having none and lodge complaints about frequent enemy attacks and infiltrations.
Apparently, this seems to be the most important message from Minister for Livestock Development and Fisheries John Magufuli on Monday on announcing a number of technical measures so designed to protect the country`s marine fisheries from pirates` unshielded plunder.
Measures declared to counter pillage on our fisheries include deregistration of 69 foreign trawlers, deployment of regular patrols on the territorial waters, with logical support coming from the military.
A complementary step is the formation of Deep Sea Authority (DSA).
These most recent measures on marine fisheries are indisputably justified, even from an international perspective, which recognises Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as continental shelf extending from the coast to some 20km inside the sea.
Indeed, this constitutes a national heritage, and so its exploitation must so happen under the auspices of the country`s jurisdiction.
Unfortunately, in the past fifteen years, it has been common to see hundreds of unregistered foreign trawlers on our EEZ, going by their fishing business with no difficulty.
The combined effects of so called illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing acts (IUU) is to deny this economy a whopping 100bn/- annually.
We might have been on holidays and relaxed to see this amount of wealth consistently getting grabbed right at our sighting.
It is incredible to imagine attainment of National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction (NSGRP) if we cannot even conserve, exploit and retain the benefits of our own resources.
Calling in military back-up does not amount to using sledgehammer to crash a nut: Some of the pirate gangs command very refined experiences and sophisticated weaponry which would require response from the army.
While fresh registration for foreign trawlers is given option, the government should take the opportunity to hike fishing royalties by at least ten percent of total sales, as a strategy for counterbalancing claims that huge amounts of catches are often under-declared.
For the new thrust to be fruitful, Minister Magufuli has to mercilessly take tough decisions and action in clearing his own house.
Why for instance, some illegal fishing agents have been doing so scot-free for decades does raise more questions than answers.
As for now, the moment of truth must be seen functioning positively, much so by taking to task all of those officers working in cahoots with fishing pirates.
The success of similar initiatives waged at the Southern African Regional Development Community (SADC) level would very much depend on the integrity of national officials entrusted to protect our fisheries.
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