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Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing has a negative effect on the country s economy and violates everything that the SADC Protocol on Fisheries stands for, according to the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources. The ministry said the sub-Saharan African region loses fish worth more than U$10 billion annually to illegal fishing.
Although the ministry could not reveal how big a problem illegal fishing is in Namibia, it said the country has taken several measures to deal with the issue.
One of these measures includes establishing vessel monitoring systems (VMS) in the fisheries sector.
"As from April 2007, all Namibian licensed fishing vessels, except rock lobster, linefish and ski-boats, were fitted with functional Automatic Location Communicators (ALCs)," the ministry said.
Daily coastal patrols, sea patrols, and aerial surveillances are also some of the measures taken to deal with illegal fishing.
Namibia is also actively participating in regional and global initiatives meant to combat illegal fishing in line with the Statement of Commitment signed by SADC fisheries ministers in July last year.
Namibia is also participating in the process initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to develop a legally binding instrument based on the International Plan of Action (IPOA-IUU) of 2001.
"Namibia has developed a National Plan of Action against IUU fishing. We have also incorporated the main provisions of IPOA-IUU into our domestic fisheries legislation. This will help the country to develop the capacity and capability to overcome illegal fishing within the framework of international best-practice and binding legal agreements. Namibia is also an active member and is fully represented on the SADC Working Group on IUU fishing," the ministry said.
Fishing inspectors on board vessels also ensure that vessels carry relevant documents, control landings of fish and by-catches, enforce the closed season and sets limitations on types of fishing gear.
According to the ministry, there is no shortage of fishing inspectors, but the challenge is to find skilled inspectors.
"The challenge is to ensure that there is continuous capacity building for inspectors to acquire skills suitable for reducing illegal fishing," it said.
Due to the Benguela Current System, Namibia has one of the most productive fishing grounds and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) supports 20 commercial species including pilchard, anchovy, mackerel, tuna, hake, monkfish, sole and crab. Source:
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