Expert calls for closer monitoring of Nigeria’s waterways

Posted By Stop Illegal Fishing:12th Jul, 2018: Fisheries Management · Monitoring

A maritime expert, Mr Temisan Omatseye, has called for a closer monitoring of Nigeria’s waterways to check the high incidence of illegal fishing.

He observed that there was a lot of illegal fishing going on in the nation’s waterways which the government was not aware of.

Omatseye, a former Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, suggested using satellite technology and helicopters to apprehend strange vessels on illegal business in the country.

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation recently released a report that revealed that developing countries were fast exhausting the supply of fish in their waters.

It noted that a third of the world’s oceans were overfished with fish consumption at an all time high, adding that globally, the percentage of stocks fished at unsustainable levels increased to 33.1 in 2015, from 31.4 in 2013 and 10 in 1974.

“There’s too much pressure on marine resources and we need significantly more commitment from governments to improve the state of their fisheries,” the Director of the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Manuel Barange, was quoted as saying in the report.

“We predict that Africa might have to import fish in the future,” he told journalists, adding that shortages could lead to higher prices, disproportionately affecting the poor.

Barange said Africa had great potential for aquaculture, but needed support in terms of finance, feed and supply of fish.

SOURCE: Punch

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