16. May 2014 Fisheries in the Indian Ocean



Mozambique wants to significantly expand its own fishing fleet

How does a country build its own sustainable fishing fleet? This question was raised on Friday when a delegation from the Mozambican Government Fishing Company, EPV Empresa Mocambicana de Atum (EMATUM) visited the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Oceanography Kiel.

 

Ivone Lichucha and Silvestre Suluda, the directors of EMATUM, were advised by the GEOMAR Director, Professor Peter Herzig, the head of the research group “ Marine Ecology’’, Professor Torsten Reusch, as well as the fisheries biologist Dr. Rainer Froese, on the latest insights into fisheries research and modern concepts of fisheries management.

The reason for the visit from the Mozambique Government was the desire to establish their own fleet for tuna fishery and thus to become less dependent on international/foreign fishing fleets. Currently 129 fishing vessels use the waters of the African country but only one of these vessels belongs to Mozambique. The contact between GEOMAR and the Mozambique Government came at the request of the former Prime Minster of Schleswig-Holstein, Peter-Harry Carstensen.

‘’In the past few years, especially in Kiel’s Cluster of Excellence ‘The Future Ocean’, innovative plans have been developed for the sustainable management of fish stocks. We would, of course, like to share and pass on this know-how”, emphasized Professor Herzig.