Nigeria’s Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has expressed its readiness to associate with Norway on satellite tv for pc surveillance of Nigerian waters to fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and shield the nation’s marine sources from exploitation.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, gave the reassurance when he acquired Norway’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Svein Baera, who paid him a courtesy go to in Abuja. The ambassador was accompanied by the Second Secretary for Political and Project Development, Ms Michelle Hovi.
Baera stated the go to was to introduce the Blue Justice initiative, which gives taking part international locations with free satellite-based Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel-tracking knowledge by way of the Blue Justice Ocean Surveillance Programme.
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He invited Nigeria to be part of the Blue Community, a community of nations taking part within the initiative, to strengthen its capability to detect suspicious vessel actions, establish vessels evading monitoring and sort out unlawful fishing and different maritime crimes.
According to him, the programme gives real-time and historic vessel-tracking knowledge to assist authorities monitor maritime actions, examine suspicious actions and establish patterns related to unlawful fishing.
He stated the initiative would assist Nigeria’s efforts to shield fisheries sources, enhance maritime surveillance and strengthen enforcement in opposition to unlawful operators.
Responding, Oyetola counseled the Norwegian Government for the initiative and its longstanding collaboration with Nigeria, assuring that the nation would take part within the programme to strengthen efforts in opposition to unlawful fishing.
The minister expressed concern that international operators illegally harvested fish from Nigerian waters, just for the merchandise to be returned to the nation and offered at exorbitant costs.
“We cannot continue to allow foreign operators to exploit our marine resources illegally while our local fishers and businesses suffer the consequences. The Nigerian Government is determined to bring this practice to an end,” he stated.
Oyetola stated unlawful fishing undermined native livelihoods, disadvantaged the nation of reliable financial advantages and threatened the sustainable administration of its aquatic sources.
“The protection of our waters is an environmental responsibility and an economic imperative. We must protect our fish stocks, safeguard the livelihoods of our fishermen and ensure that our marine resources contribute meaningfully to national development,” he added.
The minister additional disclosed that the Nigerian Government was pursuing measures to enhance native fish manufacturing, scale back dependence on imports, create jobs and preserve international trade.
