Maputo — The Minister of the Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, Augusta Maita, said on Wednesday that the closed season for surface water prawns should not be seen as a penalty, but a move intended to safeguard the importance of fishing resources for food security and nutrition as well as for earning foreign exchange from exports.
Maita, who was addressing the opening ceremony in Maputo of the fishing season for surface water prawns, said studies conducted by Mozambican and other scientists from across the world have warned about the worrying slowdown of the prawn harvest in several countries, because of a lack of sustainable management measures and non-compliance by fishermen of what measures there are.
“There are countries, even in our region, that no longer have the fishing resource, because they were unable to keep the right balance between fishing and profiting today and fishing and benefiting tomorrow and always,” she said.
Throughout the closed season, which ran from November to March, fisheries inspections, the minister said, seized seven tonnes of prawn, Although the results are preliminary, this is a reduction compared with 2020 when the authorities confiscated 11 tonnes.
Maita claimed that the fall in the number of seizures is an unequivocal indication that the persuasive measures adopted towards fishing communities are producing the desired results of education and awareness.
Maita said that the target for fisheries production this year is 480,000 tonnes. She stressed that artisanal fishing will play a crucial role in meeting this target, despite the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the 2021 fishing season has been severely affected by the adverse impact of extreme events and the pandemic, the minister pointed out that the government has been compelled to adopt certain measures to alleviate the plight of fishermen.
The government has amended the decree on Fishing Rights and Licensing concerning the payment of licensing fees, which will be made in installments should there be extreme weather events, such as the cyclones recorded recently.
The government has also passed the Standard Statute for Community Fishing Councils (CCP) which will enhance the legitimacy and the activities of these local bodies.
Some representatives of fishing companies expressed concern at the meeting regarding the length of the closed season, because the prawns are migratory species.
Rodrigues Xavier, a representative of semi-industrial fishing, argued that the closed season should cease by the end of February, because after that month fishermen can hardly find any of the crustaceans.