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Stakeholders in Maritime Call for Support for Fishers in the Country

Published

3 years ago

Aug 3, 2021.

By Joy Udoh

Stakeholders in the Maritime Sector have called for collective support for fishers in the country to improve their livelihoods as well as harness the potential and opportunity of the blue economy.

The call was made by the Executive Director of the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), Dr. Sule Abiodun Yusuf, at a meeting in Lagos on Tuesday, where he joined other stakeholders to brainstorm on the challenges confronting the fisheries industry and the way forward.

The Director said the objective of the meeting was to replicate what the francophone members are doing, adding that the Nigerian coast, which is 860 kilometers and about 462 nautical miles, shouldered the country’s blue economy.

Dr. Sule also spoke on the need to provide adequate security for fishermen, especially the artisanal and commercials, who supply 90 percent and 10 percent of the country’s demand respectively. He stressed the need to train and retrain the fishermen so as for them to compete with the reality of things across the globe.

He called for area surveillance from the Nigerian Navy, using modern equipment for daily overflying. He stressed the importance of bringing the stakeholders together, data collection, sharing information in making the industry profitable.

He said, “The purpose of this meeting is to really replicate what the francophone members are doing, our coast is very bigger than 6 of its nations, and if you look at our coast territorial wise, it is 860 kilometers and that’s about 462 nautical miles, and that’s where our blue economy lies.

“Under it (the blue economy) you won’t be surprised that we have crude we have gas and we have fish, and today we’re discussing fish, there’s no type of fish that you won’t get in Nigeria.

“There’s no species of fish we’re talking about that we don’t have in this country and that’s why we’re talking about fishery governance and fishery management system, the policy in place based on those conventions in Ghana meeting which Nigeria was a part of.

“We need to look at it because of so many vessels visiting and harvesting in Nigeria, we need to look at the IOU, bringing all the stakeholders together. In particular, the essence of this meeting is about commercial and also artisanal, don’t forget that the artisanal supply about 90 percent of our demands while the commercials supply the remaining 10 percent.

“We must ensure they have security that is the reason we must look into IUU, the vessel monitoring system is so important to us, we need to train and retrain all our fishermen.”

Speaking on behalf of the Nigerian Navy, Commodore Gideon Kashim, said that the force is ready to be part of the project as a strong stakeholder, willing to perform its statutory duties to allow fisheries to thrive on water and protect them from any form of illegalities on the Nigeria waters.

Another stakeholder, Professor Stella William, who is the founder of the Nigeria Women in Agricultural Research for Development, said that the purpose of the meeting was to begin a dialogue on how to impact the life and livelihood of fishers, especially the small scale members, known as artisanal fishers.

Other prominent stakeholders present at the meeting included the representative of the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture in the Federal Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (FMARD), Vice President of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON), and the representative of the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture amongst others.

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