Mozambique loses between 3.7 and 4.4 billion meticais (60 to 70 million dollars) every year as a result of illegal fishing and tax evasion by vessels not licensed to carry out maritime operations, the National Sea Institute (INAMAR) announced on Monday 17 June.
According to the organisation’s spokesman, Leonid Chimarizene, quoted by the Mozambican Information Agency (AIM), the government, in partnership with the member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), is working to combat illegal fishing.
The source was speaking in Maputo at the second meeting of the Operational Working Group of the SADC Regional Fisheries Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC), which brings together countries from the region.
“A vessel that is not on the legal circuit ends up damaging the country in various ways. Illegal fishing can’t be combated individually, that’s why the countries of the region are here,” he said.
The government has been increasingly committed to combating illegal fishing, which is why the country is responsible for managing the SADC Regional Fisheries Coordination Centre (MCSCC), an institution based in the municipal district of Ka Tembe, in the city of Maputo.
At the meeting, the representative of the SADC Secretariat, Motsoki Hlastshwayo, expressed his appreciation to Mozambique for operationalising the MCSCC. “It’s not just Mozambique that is suffering from illegal fishing, not least because the Centre is operating and, at the same time, providing training to southern African countries,” adding that “the establishment also shares information with SADC member countries and has drones to check what kind of vessels we have in our waters, and this information is sent to other countries so that their legality can be verified.”
Asked about the possibility of definitively stopping illegal fishing in the country and the region, the source said: “It’s not a small matter, it’s necessary to invest in instruments that can help reduce illegal fishing offences.”
The official said that the project under government management is budgeted at almost 316 million meticais (five million dollars).
The illegal fishing research centre was inaugurated on 22 April. “What we want to do is combat individuals who climb into Mozambican territory to take huge tonnes of fish illegally,” said the representative of the SADC Secretariat.
