By Lucas Liganga

Tanga. At the close of a two-day seminar on how to fight dynamite fishing, which was held in Tanga Region last October, it was apparent that the participants, including scientists, fisheries officers, police, magistrates, journalists and fishers showed were unhappy that dynamite fishing was still active along Tanzania’s 800-kilometre long coastal line.

They wondered why Tanzania, unlike its neighbours Kenya and Mozambique, had failed to end the malpractice.

But they reached a consensus that the two neighbouring countries had succeeded in controlling the menace after provisions were introduced in their statutes treating dynamite or blast fishing more or less as treason ǽ_ª thus attracting heavy and deterrent penalties, including long jail terms.

They called for the need to review the Fisheries Act 2003 whose punishment for convicted dynamite fishers is a five-year jail term without an option of fine.

Contradictory laws

The two-day seminar brought together players in the fisheries industry, including the magistrates, the police, fisheries officials, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and local government authorities to build understanding of the magnitude of the problem and find out ways and means of resolving it.

The seminar was organized by the National Environment Management Council (Nemc) and supported by WWF Tanzania.

Winfred Haule, a retired assistant director of fisheries and executive director of Tanzania Fisheries and Aquatic Environment Organisation (Tafaeo), said the Fisheries Act 2003 should be reviewed and toughened if the country were to succeed in its war against dynamite fishing.

Mr Haule pointed out a number of other laws that could deter the efficiency of the Act as including the Environmental Management Act, 2004 whose penalty for offences does not exceed a five-year imprisonment or fine not exceeding Sh10 million or both fine and imprisonment.

He added that the Arms and Ammunition Act No. 2 of 1991 and No. 19 of 2007 provided for imprisonment for six years in addition to forfeiture of ammunition and any vessel by the government.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 whose penalty is not less than 15 years and not more than 20 years imprisonment and the Economic and Organized Crime Control Act, 1984 whose penalty is imprisonment not exceeding 15 years or both imprisonment and any other penal measure, said Mr Haule.

He said one of the reasons advanced for dynamite fishing continuing unabated was thought to be ineffective investigation and prosecution of dynamite fishing cases resulting in a relatively low level of significant penalties being meted out.

Indeed, it was agreed that dynamite fishing has been illegal in Tanzania since the former Fisheries Act of 1970. However, dynamite fishing has been a longstanding problem causing widespread damage to shallow water marine habitats and fisheries productivity over a marine water body area of about 64,000 square kilometres and along the mainland coast line of approximately 800 kilometres.

In the course of deliberations, it was revealed that some of the affected fishers have assisted fisheries managers in convincing others to give up blast fishing, but facts on the ground showed that injuries and warnings have not succeeded in deterring the use of dynamite for fishing.

Dynamite fishing was not only a threat to the marine resources as participants heard that fishing using explosives can be life threatening to mankind.

Accidents when using dynamite have been reported to cause physical disabilities while locally made fertilizers and diesel/petrol blasts used for fishing purposes represent a major security threat among societies.

Also the same bombs used for blast fishing could be applied in social conflicts or during political chaos, the participants observed adding that if not prevented at early stages, locally made blasts could be developed further and used to intimidate the society.

As latest statistics show that dynamite or blast fishing is becoming out of control in most of Tanzania’s coastal line, the malpractice is evidently doing harm to coral reefs and other marine resources.

Coral reefs are natural barriers that restrain beach erosion by holding back cruising oceanic waves, but dynamite fishing is negating this function.

Destruction of the coral reef, besides exposing the sea flanks, rising sea levels, it also poses a threat to life and property.

Dynamite fishing also disturbs the breeding, nursery and feeding grounds of many marine organisms. These become degraded and rendered unsuitable.

Coastal livelihoods

Dr Christopher Muhando, a senior researcher with the Institute of Marine Sciences based in Zanzibar, and Ms Rose Sallema Mtui, the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) head of Environmental Research Coordination, said destructive fishing practices damaged coral reefs, which were breeding grounds for fish.

They said coral reefs were highly adapted to live and grow slowly and when damaged reefs took many years to recover and in some incidents they never recovered at all.

Dr Muhando and Ms Mtui said reefs provided many useful goods and services, adding that coastal livelihoods were highly dependent on coral reefs.

They said blast fishing demolished the coral framework, reduced the complex three dimensional topography to rubbles, denying living habitats for millions of reef organisms, and disrupting provision of all services and goods.

The two scientists said coral reef destruction was associated with low fish productivity and rampant poverty and they called for the protection of coral reefs for the prosperity of the nation.

"Time is now to get rid of blast fishing completely," they said in their joint presentation entitled: The Value of Coral Reefs and Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts of Blast Fishing in Tanzania.

The Tanga regional administrative secretary, Mr Salum Mohamed Chima, said it took more than 60 years to recover damaged coral reefs, adding: "Some of us, even our children, will not be there when some of the damaged coral reefs are recovered."

He said Tanzania was the only country in the region where dynamite fishing was practiced, adding that neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Mozambique and Indian Ocean Island states have already controlled the evil act of blasting fish.

"Blast fishing is a shame to the nation," said the NEMC director general, Mr Bonaventure Baya, adding that the malpractice which has grown deep roots was also detrimental to the marine ecosystem.

Discussions at the seminar followed a presentation by a marine scientist that made damning revelations on the extent of dynamite fishing in some coastal areas of Tanzania saying the resurgence of blast-fishing has been driven by the availability of illegally-traded industrial explosives and detonation materials, in part, imported for use in the mining sector.

Literature

The scientist, who preferred to remain anonymous fearing revenge from notorious dynamiters, said blast -fishing occurred in all 16 mainland coastal districts and municipalities with Dar es Salaam, Tanga, Mtwara and Lindi coastal areas cited as hotspots due to lack of regulation.

For example, he said, beach management units (BMUs), with the support from WWF, monitored blast frequency at Songosongo in Lindi region for 15 months up to late October 2014 and recorded 8,765 blasts with an average of 21 blasts a day.

He added that another monitoring done at Mgao in Mtwara region for nine months ending April 2014 found a total of 2,683 blasts with an average of 10 blasts a day.

In his presentation entitled: Status of blast fishing in Tanzania mainland waters September 2015, he said enforcement to fight blast fishing has been weak since 2002 caused by various reasons, including lack of operational funding, corruption, lack of investigative approach and intimidation of fisheries officers by the illegal fishers, the marine scientist said in the western Indian Ocean, blast fishing only occurred in Tanzania giving an indicative 50 year trend in blast fishing in the country.

He said a drop in blast fishing from 1997 to 2002 followed Operation Pweza conducted by the navy and subsequent development of navy camps along the Tanga coast in response to reports on illegal immigration across the Kenya border.

"Navy personnel were recalled to permanent bases in 2002 which immediately led to resurgence in blast fishing starting in Tanga," said the marine scientist.

Mr Magese Emmanuel Bulayi, a principal fisheries officer in the Fisheries Division, said efforts were now in place aimed at curbing blast fishing.

He said the government has launched the Multi-Agency Task Team (MATT) to find a lasting and effective solution to escalating cases of environmental and wildlife crime taking place in Tanzania, including blast fishing.

"The focus of MATT will be to target the individuals and networks that control this illegal trade, bring them to justice and seize any assets obtained through their crimes," said Mr Bulayi.

Main focus

Participants said the launch of MATT in July, this year, showed there was now political will to fight dynamite fishing which has been in place for over 50 years.

"MATT has already actively been working on blast fishing for the past 12 months with support from EU-SmartFish project," said the marine scientist.

Tanga regional staff officer, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mayala Towo, admitted: "Blast fishing is a big headache. It needs committed collaborative cooperation by all stakeholders."

He added: "If our forefathers were engaged in blast fishing we couldn’t have found fish today."

At the end of the seminar, participants agreed that fisheries laws should not only focus on fishermen using dynamite but they should also deal with people who provide the dynamite and other fishing gear such as boats.