MOZAMBIQUE – Southern African Development Community (SADC), has set up a fisheries Monitoring Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) to coordinate and regulate fisheries data in the region.

According to the organization, the MCSCC will be housed in the Ministry of Sea, Inland Water and Fisheries based in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.

“The establishment of the MCSCC paves the way for coordinated measures to improve fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the SADC region,” SADC said.

It has also appreciated The Bloomberg Oceans Fund and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for their support in the acquisition of office and ICT equipment to enhance MSCSS services.

SADC added that the centre has also received support from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the United States (US) State Department.

The support comes through the World Wide Fund for Nature and through the SADC Atlantic project and SADC-AFB PROFISBLUE projects respectively as the organization stated.

Information given by the organization stated that the centre is expected to coordinate regional fisheries MCS data and information-sharing services, including the creation of a regional fishing vessel register and monitoring system.

The centre would also be responsible for the provision of regional fisheries surveillance and fisheries law enforcement and legal support services.

The operationalisation of the MCSCC marks a turning point for which the SADC countries and relevant actors have been getting ready for the last decade.

African countries lose millions to illegal fishing

Meanwhile, African Development Bank (AfDB) reports that Africa loses approximately one million tonnes of fish per year due to overfishing and bad governance in the fisheries sector.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has caused huge economic losses to fisheries around Africa with US$143 million in losses reported per year in 5 African countries; Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania. 

The study has also indicated Tanzania as the most affected by the IUU phenomenon, posting approximately US$65.4 million in financial losses, 46% of the total losses recorded for all the 5 countries covered by the study.

SADC reports that IUU fishing flourishes because poor coastal countries do not have the capacity to monitor and control their respective exclusive economic zones (EEZs).

“In addition to severe revenue loss, IUU in the SADC region exacerbates food insecurity and threatens the livelihoods of coastal people dependent on the fishing industry.”

Research data has shown that the fisheries sector in the SADC region contributes an average of about 2% to the SADC GDP, with total average exports worth of US$152 million and average imports of US$100 million.

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