Togo: The government’s ambition to develop fishing and tuna canneries for export
Front of the people elected representatives on Thursday, May 4th, 2023, the Minister of Maritime Economy, Edem Kokou Tengué, announced the government’s ambition to develop tuna canneries for export, despite the modest volume of fish caught.
According to the latest data from 2016 to 2020, the volume of tuna caught was estimated to be around 7,285 tons.
The volume of tuna caught is still far from sufficient to realize this project, due to the use of giant trawlers and ships that unfortunately deplete the fishery resources.
It should be noted that Chinese trawlers engage in fishing with explosives or with nets with such tight mesh sizes that young fish are unable to escape.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) is responsible for the annual capture of 11 to 26 million tons of fish, thereby depriving the global economy of 10 to 23 billion dollars.
Similarly, a regional intergovernmental structure called the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) conducted a study on the phenomenon. The investigation revealed that, out of a reserve of over one million tons in the Gulf of Guinea, IUU fishing accounts for 37% of the total catches.
A figure that would even reach 60%, according to the African NGO Stop Illegal Fishing.
Kodjovi Makafui.
