The Federal Government says it has licensed 164 vessels to operate on the Nigerian territorial waters and exclusive economic zones.
The Director, Fisheries Department in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ime Umoh, disclosed this yesterday at the Second Dialogue with Regional Economic Communities (RECS) implementation of Fisheries Governance Project phase 2 (FISHGOV-2), in Abuja.
The three-day dialogue is co-hosted by the African Union Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD, and African Union-InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources, AU-IBAR, with support from the European Union (EU).
Umoh also listed some of the achievements recorded by of the Department to boost of fish, saying: “In the artisanal sub sector, we have been able to register the canoes and build up the capacity of artisanal farmers as well as supplying them with inputs, canoes, fishing gears and other equipment that will help them to increase their production.
“For aquaculture, we normally establish fish farm estates for youths and women, and also provide them with feed because of the flood we had in 2020 in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.
“We are intervening in 15 states by providing fish feeds, fingerlings, nets, canoes, and that is what is going on presently in Nigeria. We have also intervened on the whole value chain in terms of the production, processing and also the marketing structure.
“On industrial level, we installed Vessel Monitoring System (VMS). What we do is in collaboration with the Navy and other security agencies when we install the equipment in the vessels so that we will be able to monitor what they are doing; the type of fish, vessels that are being used, and equipment that is being brought into the country.
“For example, they can use the vessels for smuggling and other activities. We have to prevent all these from the trawlers being used for other obnoxious activities.” he said.
Fish is one of the healthiest and cheapest proteins to human beings, and as we strive to end hunger in Africa by 2025. We also seek to support all those involved in the fisheries sector; small scale farmers, the non-state actors, civil societies.
Promoting aquaculture
Also, the Chief Executive Officer, AUDA-NEPAD, Nardos Thomas, represented by the Acting Head, Food Security Unit/AUDA-NEPAD FishGov-2 Project Coordinator, Cheikh N’dongo, said the FISHGOV project was funded with $3 million to support member states.
He said the essence of the dialogue was to help sensitise Africans about what stakeholders were doing to advance the fisheries and aquaculture sectors for Africa’s social and economic transformation.
“We have come to support our member states, regional communities in the work that we need to do on fisheries and aquaculture on the continent,” he said.
Also speaking, African Union Commission (AUC) representative, Ms Panduleni Elago, promised that the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) would support artisanal and small scale fish farmers to bridge the gap in demand in Nigeria.
Elago, who is CAADP Advisor, said: “Fish is one of the healthiest and cheapest proteins to human beings, and as we strive to end hunger in Africa by 2025. We also seek to support all those involved in the fisheries sector; small scale farmers, the non-state actors, civil societies.”
Similarly, Head, Agriculture and Food Security Division, the ECOWAS Commission, Ernest Aubee, said ECOWAS is collaborating with the Nigerian Navy to protect the territorial waters of the sub-region from criminal activities as it affects fish production.
According to him, ECOWAS is putting a lot of emphasis on fisheries and aquaculture, in the light of which the European Union, and the African Commission came together to develop the fisheries governance programme for Africa called PESCAU. (NAN)
