The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has agreed to provide technical assistance to the Mozambican Ministry of the Sea, Interior Waters, and Fisheries in Maputo for a two-year term (2021-2022) to assist the country in combating illegal fishing that is not registered or controlled.
“The plan focuses on revising and developing policy, legal, administrative, and operational structures to promote the implementation of the Agreement of Port States Initiatives and improve the mechanism to combat illegal fishing in Mozambique,” said Hernani Coelho da Silva, FAO’s representative in Mozambique.
The technical assistance plan to combat illegal fishing will be placed in the ports of Beira, Nacala and Maputo, south, centre and north of the country respectively.
The agreement will allow the country to reduce losses to benefit more than 60 per cent of the population that depends on the fishery to earn their living.
The Mozambican Minister of the Sea, Interior Waters and Fisheries, Augusta Maita welcomed the technical support and said it will strengthen local efforts and capacities for an effective fight against illegal fishing.
“By its nature, the Indian Ocean is a place rich in fishing resources that sustain a prosperous fishing industry, which has a commercial value that makes it one of the main targets for the practice of non-reported and non-regulated illegal fishing,” said the minister.
The minister praised regional coordination, brotherhood and partnership as fundamental for better preparation, efficiency and strength to put a stop to non-reported and non-regulated illegal fishing and to advance the country’s development process.
FAO’s partnership with the government of Mozambique dates from the 1970s and it has been supporting in different sectors namely agriculture, livestock, forest and fishing among others.
