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NEWS
Namibian Conference Gives Commonwealth Fisheries Organisations A Voice
15/05/08: Civil society organisations shared and prepared prior to a Ministerial meeting addressing concerns of those dependent on the good management of the fishing industry.
A recent civil society conference on sustainable fisheries management and livelihoods gave civil society organisations the chance to share and prepare prior to a SADC Ministerial meeting to address the concerns of those dependent on the good management of the fishing industry.
A fisherman telling his story to the international community said,
"Our communities suffer greatly from industrial trawlers coming, at night, to fish illegally in zones which are normally reserved for small scale fishing. They destroy our resources, they destroy our coastal zones, they destroy our nets and they even kill our fishermen, when fishing with their lights off they collide with our artisanal boats,"
As a result of incidents like these, the Department for International Development (DIFID) - along with the Australian government - are funding a two-year Commonwealth programme on marine fisheries management.
The programme, which is being managed by a Commonwealth consortium consisting of the Commonwealth Foundation, the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit and the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council, held a civil society conference in Namibia (14-15 May 2008) to prepare a declaration which will be taken to a meeting of Fisheries Ministers from the countries of the Southern Africa Development Community due to take place 2-4 July.
The main focus of the Ministerial meeting will be illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including illegal harvesting, shipment, processing, landing, sale and distribution of fish and fishery products. Such illegal activities have a massively detrimental effect on the economies of affected nations, and direct impacts on the livelihoods and incomes of artisanal and other fishing communities.
Illegal fishing sees pirates taking advantage of developing countries lack of resources to police fishing grounds and also exploits local populations by running their activities at the lowest possible cost, exposing crews to unregulated labour and poor and often extremely dangerous working conditions.
At the Namibian conference, civil society organizations from Mauritius, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo met to discuss, share information and engage with these issues.
Commonwealth Foundation Director, Dr Mark Collins, who opened the meeting alongside Namibia's Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Hon. Kilus Nguvauvu MP, said,
"What is clear from this consultation is that there is a growing marginalisation of people in coastal communities. Their unimpeded access to fishing grounds is being jeopardised - which is a human rights issue; their source of food and livelihoods are threatened; and their cultural and artisanal heritage is also in danger when the ability to fish is removed.
There are serious social implications here that greatly complicate the fisheries and environmental questions. Impoverishment of coastal communities through fisheries mismanagement undermines the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and has collateral impacts arising from community impoverishment, including increased risk of the spread of HIV and AIDS, spread of drugs use, disempowerment of women and other serious problems."
The delegates of the civil society conference will present the SADC Ministerial Conference to Stop Illegal Fishing with a demand for inclusion on decisions made that effect their livelihoods and futures, including negotiation in transparent access agreements. The full civil society and ministerial declarations will be available on this website when published.
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