Watch out: Africa’s newest threat is now fish grabbing
Africa has failed to protect its water territory not only along the Somalia Coast but also in west and south.
This failure has caused massive exploitation and fish grabbing from Africa by the Western and Asian nations and companies, a pan-African maritime security gathering in the continent has revealed.  (Photo: A woman carries a basket of fish at Iwaya fishing village in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos. With the new threat of illegal fishing in Africa’s waters, such harvests are likely to dwindle. Photo/REUTERS)
The two-day continental conference organised by the African Union in Addis Ababa was also attended by representatives from the United Nations and European Union.
And, top on the agenda of the continental forum was piracy and illegal fishing.
The African Union lamented that after decades after attaining independence, African countries were still losing sea resources, namely fish, to western nations.
Fish is the cheapest source of protein for millions of African poor communities.
AU peace and security director Mr El Ghassim Wane says Africa has failed to enforce measures to defend its water territories. Poor information sharing experience among African nations also aggravates the situation.
According to United Nation Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Africa is losing billions of dollars a year from illegal fish grabbing. FAO cited a recently a growing trend of illegal fishing in eastern, western, and south western Africa.
Guinea from West Africa is the most affected from illegal fishing. The country loses about $100 million annually. Senegal and Liberia also severely affected while Angola from the SADC region loses $50 million.
In the eastern Africa region, Tanzania was listed as the most invaded.
Mr Alhaji Jallow, a senior fisheries expert of FAO in an interview with the Nation said illegal incursion in prohibited water areas and misuse of authorisation are now growing trends. He declined to name the invaders but hinted they are mainly from the West and Asia.
According to FAO, some 80 per cent of global fish stock was consumed in the last one decade. Currently 50 per cent of global fishing is illegal.
In July 2009, African Union leaders decided to device a mechanism to defend Africa’s water territory. The union is undertaking a strategy to develop a common position.
Somali Deputy Prime Minister Abdulrahman Aden Ibrahim Ibbi said besides the country being plagues by piracy, it is also suffering from illegal fishing and toxic chemical dumping since 1990’s.
Somali piracy was also on the agenda and AU once again expressed its disappointment on the western nations approach to deal with it. Mr Wane said piracy should be dealt with in a comprehensive manner. “Pirates are emerging from the land not from the sea,†he added.
Argaw Ashine, The Nation, Addis AbabaStay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!
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