According to a local news agency Tanzania has decided to take stern measures to confront foreign pirate fishing vessels that have been catching tuna fish in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and causing the loss of billions. Last week Tanzanian authorities have arrested a flagless foreign trawler some 100 miles off the Tanzanian coast with 70 tonnes of tuna fish worth an estimated US$900,000. It is said that this arrest is microcosm of what has been happening for many years.
It is told that the contraband fish cargo was offloaded from the ship and kept at a cold storage facility in Dar es Salaam. According to the official the ship, named ‘Tawaqal 1, with 35 crew on board was towed into Dar es Salaam harbour by a tug boat last Monday. The crew comprised Chinese, Filipinos, Kenyans and Vietnamese, who were expected to appear before court in Dar es Salaam last week. The ship was seized in a joint operation lead by South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania in the spirit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) co-operation.
This incident comes in the wake of a SADC agreement by ministers responsible for marine fisheries last July to co-operate in joint patrols of the EEZ of member states bordering the Indian Ocean. The Tanzania Government recently amended laws pertaining to licensing of ships, fees and penalties to be exacted for fishing in its EEZ.
