Moves by the Federal Government to make the country self-sufficient in seafood and boost domestic fish farming business since January 1, 2014 has not produced the desire goal. It was learnt that the incursion of foreigners into the country’s waters without restriction had been the major factor that drained the fortunes of fishing sector in country.

The sector, which contributed about 9.5 per cent to the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDPs) as at 2015, has become a shadow of itself as India, China, Indonesian and other foreign firms fishing in Nigerian waters without royalties to the Federal Government become net exporters of fish to Nigeria.

It was learnt that Nigeria, which supposed to be exporter of fish to other country, had lost over 300, 000 workforce and is spending over $800 million to import seafood from Asia and Europe, leading to heavy loss of foreign exchange annually.

Today, China is harvesting about 15.37 million metric tonnes; Indonesia, 6.69million tonnes; India, 5.43million tonnes; United States, 5.04million tonnrs; Russia, 4.87million tonnes; Peru, 4.16million tonnes; Vietnam, 3.28million tonnes; Japan, 3.2million tonnes; Norway, 2.37 million tonnes and Myanmar, 2.15million tonnes, using sophisticated fishing equipment.

According to the Nigeria Trawler Owners Association (NITOA), foreigners have been poaching fish on Nigerian waters with impunity without penalty, while pirates attack local trawler operators for ransom at will. They noted that the crew were most times kidnapped for ransom where the companies pay huge sums to rescue their members or staff.

The association explained that there were more than 230 registered fishing companies in the 1980s and 1990s contributing immensely to the growth of the nation’s economy.

However, they lamented that the situation has long gone as Nigeria could only boast of nine viable licensed fishing companies in operation. Impunity Realising that the Chinese and Asian fishing companies have been stealing the nation’s fish due to lack of enforcement of regulation, government also ordered the Nigerian Navy to stop foreign trawlers from encroaching on the nation’s territorial waters illegally.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, people just come to Nigerian waters and after fishing they transship to another ship, noting that there was no record of what they have taken from the waters. Poaching The Chairman, Ship Owners Forum, Mrs Margaret Orakwusi, for instance, explained that the trend in poaching and unregulated fishing had indicated that the laws guiding the operations of the business in Nigeria such as “Sea Fisheries (Fishing) Regulations, and “Sea Fisheries (Licensing) Regulations” the Sea Fisheries Act of 1992(2013), were not receiving adequate enforcement. Orakwusi said that many unlicensed fish trawling business owners come and engage in illegal and unregulated fishing, which besides damaging the marine ecosystems, leaves local trawling businesses in bigger troubles.

A report by FBNQuest Capital had also explained that the country spent $800million yearly to import fish in order to meet its 3.3million metric tonnes of fish demand.

The report noted that the country’s per capita fish consumption was 13kilogrammes, significantly lower than the global average of 21kilogrammes as some trawler operators, who could boost fish supply in the country had lost their vessels to robbers and pirates.

A report by Global Fishing Watch (GFW), also explained that some of the foreign fishing boats had engaged in Illegally, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing even in restricted areas by ignoring quotas, international rules and catch prohibited species. It was learnt that IUU fishing is easy and highly lucrative due to lack of monitoring and enforcement, especially in the country as pirates target places such as Inshore Exclusive Zones (IEZ) created to protect shallow coastal waters where fish come to reproduce.

Loss It was revealed that between Nigerian and Senegal coast, some $3.3billion was being lost annually to the Russian, Asian and Chinese fishermen. Also, the sector, which used to be ranked second among non-oil export foreign exchange earners for the country, was nowhere on the scale due to negligence.

For instance, NITOA said that a total of 350 vessels were managed by 45 trawling companies in the past but the number had been depleted to about 230 vessels operated by only 10 firms. Saddened by the dwindling fortunes of the fish trawling sector, Orakwusi noted that operators in the maritime sub-sector of fish trawling business in the country were still contending with the problems of sea-piracy, poor safety architecture and reckless poaching activities by Chinese fishermen. Poor regulation

The chairman explained that the industry was facing the problem of poor enforcement of Nigerian and global regulations. Orakwusi, who was also the former president of the Nigerian Trawler Owners Association (NITOA), said in Lagos that high operational cost of diesel and insecurity had made many operators in the business to be unstable. She explained: “We use diesel more than any other industry, and once there is a bit of upward movement in price, it affects us. This is so because we are not in position to transfer that extra cost of production to our off-takers.”

According to her, Nigeria’s loss is gain for other African countries. Relocation Due to the relocation of some firms to neighbouring countries, the fisheries sector in Ghana generates $1 billion in revenue annually.

It was learnt that Ghana’s fisheries contributes 4.5 per cent to annual Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and indirectly support the livelihoods of 10per cent of all people in Ghana.. The chairman stressed that the business owners continue to bear any cost increase as most of their products are exported, and they contribute an insignificant percentage in the international market.

There should proper regulation of the fishing sector by equipping the appropriate authority to enforce the law. Alsop stiff penalty should be put in place in ordee to ward off poachers. (New Telegraph)

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