Diomidio Hernandez, a representative of fishermen of the coastal state of Sucre, has declared that a Venezuelan government ban on trawling has finally eliminated the evil practice that destroyed our marine costs. The measure, announced a day earlier by Agriculture minister Elias Jaua during President Hugo Chavez’s weekly television broadcast, is intended to protect coastal biodiversity and increase production by small fishermen, who have petitioned governments to outlaw the technique for decades.
Jaua also said that tomorrow hundreds of thousands of fishermen and women will set out to fish for the food that our people need, protein for our children. During the program, President Chavez pointed out that small-scale fishermen provide 70 percent of the country’s fish, while the trawlers mostly caught shrimp for export.
Chavez also told that the government will invest 70 million bolivars (US$ 32 million) to convert or decommission trawling boats, as well as the development of fish processing plants. He informed that 30 trawling ships will be expropriated due to the refusal of their owners to cooperate with the plans to adapt the boats to uses compliant with the new fishing regulations.
Francisco Arias, a representative from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has applauded Venezuela’s efforts, noting that the ban on trawling is “established in what we call the ‘code of responsible fishing conduct,’ and it may be one of the most difficult alternatives for governments to take.”
