Now Reading
CPLP: Community Moving from Rhetoric to Action in Fighting Illegal Fishing – Portugal Navy

CPLP: Community Moving from Rhetoric to Action in Fighting Illegal Fishing – Portugal Navy

Portugal’s Navy Chief of Staff on Wednesday defended the importance in global terms of the CPLP’s joint position on illegal fishing, which “is highly damaging,” considering that these countries are “moving from rhetoric to action” in this fight.

Speaking to Lusa news agency, Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo presented the main conclusions of the conference of the Navies of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) on the theme “Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing – new approaches”.

“The most important reflection is that given the size of the EEZs [Exclusive Economic Zone], the navies that belong to the CPLP and their geostrategic positions, the way we position ourselves in relation to certain crimes that are committed at sea and illegalities, particularly the unreported and unregistered fishing that is very harmful, means that our joint position may be an important position in global terms,” he said.

According to the Navy Chief of Staff, the CPLP countries have discussed positions, forms of cooperation, training and organisation with the aim of being “all the more capable” in their areas of operation.

“Illegal, unreported and unregistered fishing is highly destructive. These are third countries that take resources that belong to other countries without paying taxes, without participating in the economy of those countries. The most fragile countries in this area are countries that are located for example in Africa,” he stressed.

Despite this issue being “well known and debated”, Gouveia e Melo considered that “there is a certain rhetoric around the subject and little action”.

“We are moving from rhetoric to action”, he stated.

The aim, according to the admiral, is that “the CPLP is an example in this area and that it is an example for other communities that are even further behind” in protecting these resources, “including for populations that are often still at a subsistence stage and that need these resources as bread for their mouths.

“Often the knowledge, the training, some equipment, this exchange of information allows us to leverage their capabilities and also their experience and the problems they have allows us to foresee problems that we, in our areas, may also have. This way it is a ‘win-win’ situation”, he explained.

See Also

Referring that there has been “a great reinforcement of operations in the EEZs of these countries,” Gouveia e Melo noted that Portugal is seen as “a producer of security, which cooperates very openly and frankly with other countries, particularly with the countries of the CPLP.

“In global terms, unreported and illegal fishing is equivalent to about $30 billion a year. Imagine what that means in terms of local economies,” he said, noting that the CPLP’s EEZs “are about 6% of the world’s EEZs.

Seven of the nine CPLP member states were represented at the conference: Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste, as well as Portugal. Mozambique and Equatorial Guinea were not represented.

Lusa

SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR NEWSLETTERS:

SUBSCRIBE TO GET OUR NEWSLETTERS:

Scroll To Top

We have detected that you are using AdBlock Plus or other adblocking software which is causing you to not be able to view 360 Mozambique in its entirety.

Please add www.360mozambique.com to your adblocker’s whitelist or disable it by refreshing afterwards so you can view the site.