Cooperation required to ensure future for East African fisheries

But fish knows no borders, they migrate from the waters of one country to another. In East Africa, millions of people critically depend on fish either because they catch and trade them or because fish is their most accessible source of animal proteins and one of the most efficient ways to meet their nutritional needs.

Many East African fishermen exploit these so-called shared stocks. The multi-national nature of these fisheries has great consequences on management policies, because depending on where fish are, in which country's waters, different rules may apply to those catching them. If resources are over-exploited - as it is the case for many fish stocks in our region - it is not enough with one country taking measures to improve the situation.

Action needs to be taken in a concerted way by all countries exploiting any such fisheries. This is why the United Nations Law of the Sea, which some call the Constitution of the Oceans, says that governments must cooperate in order to ensure the conservation of such fish populations.

In Tanzania, the existing planned national policies for conservation, management and development of natural resources face identical problems. These include conflicting sectoral policies, lack of general appreciation of the values of the natural resources and therefore their need for conservation and management, as well as lack of a central point for co - ordination of management actions.

Thus the present fisheries policy and strategy statement addresses these problems as well as setting the scene for all that the nation wants for her fisheries resources. The statement focuses on the promotion of sustainable exploitation, utilization and marketing of fish resources to provide food, income, employment and foreign exchange earnings and effective protection of the aquatic environment to sustind development.

The main areas of concern to the sectors’s development efforts nclude improved resource management and control; integration of environmental protection nd deveopment’ improved training and education; improved knowledge of the fisheries resource base; efficient resource utilization and marketing; strategic research; community participation and regional and international co-operation just to mention but a few.

Despite the country earning 1.2 trillion/- in 2011 from the fishing industry from 177,527 licensed fishermen, the sector’s contribution to the national economy remains minimal. In the same year, the country exported fish and fisheries products worth 230.01 billion/-, ($176,797.8 million). However, the government earned 5.866 billion/- in revenue.
The export seems to drop from the average fish and fishery product exports from Tanzania during five years from 2005 to 2010 which was $195.17 million.

Therefore, the fishing industry in the country is yet to contribute adequately to the national economy, given that its annual contribution is 1.5 per cent of the GDP.

Despite having marine water cover of 64,000 square km including the Indian Ocean and the exclusive economic zone which covers 223,000 square km, the EEZ is yet to be fully exploited. Poor fishing facilities, limited financial resources, lack of relevant technological skills prevent the country from benefiting from fishing.