Africa Turns To Satellites To Curb Fish Poaching
Date: 30-Jul-07
Country: COTE D'IVOIRE
Author: Loucoumane Coulibaly
Many African countries lack boats and aircraft to watch over coastal waters, not only to catch poachers but also to intercept drug smugglers, increasingly active here, and would-be migrants on perilous journeys to Europe on rickety wooden boats.
"Experts estimate more than 50 percent of our potential fishing resources are taken each year by poaching," Fisheries Minister Alphonse Douati said. "Nearly 4 million tonnes a year are lost to pirate ships."
"We're drawing up a community surveillance project via satellite to enable states to control this system of poaching."
He was speaking on the margins of a three-day meeting of the Ministerial Conference on Fishing Resources Cooperation among African States Bordering the Atlantic Ocean (Comhafat), which comprises 22 member states.
Comhafat has chosen Collecte Localisation Satellite (CLS), a subsidiary of the French space agency, as its technical partner. CLS Deputy Director Olivier Surly said the project would cost 15-20 million Euros.
Manager of the project for Rabat-based Comhafat, Fatima Zahra Rahmani, told reporters the European Union, African Development Bank and World Bank had expressed willingness to provide financing.
Countries from Morocco to as far south as Namibia have also been planning separately an integrated coast guard in which they would pool their resources to improve monitoring. Ministers are to rubber stamp the idea in Luanda in September.
Ministers and experts from Comhafat members attending the meeting also agreed to introduce new regulations which would set specific periods for fishing and allocate no-fishing zones in the sea dedicated to breeding, Douati told Reuters.
They also set regulations on what size of fishing nets could be used according to the depth of water, ensuring that nets with larger holes would be used where possible to avoid capturing younger, smaller fish and depleting stocks unnecessarily.
