Each supertrawler may be capable of catching at least 2,000 tons of fish per year of key, bottom-dwelling species that are important to local fishermen. The country’s maximum sustainable catch of these key species ­– including by local fishermen – is only 7,136 tons a year, according to fisheries scientists. We slowly see more fish for local fishermen to catch and women to process. These supertrawlers would unfairly compete for the same fish as local fishermen and reverse all of that progress. In earlier decades, local fishermen could not earn a livelihood because of rampant overfishing, but in recent years things have improved.

Source: Front Page Africa July 16, 2020 07:41 UTC