INSIGHT: Revealed: Tanzania profits little from tuna production

Bagamoyo. About 50 key actors in the marine fisheries sector could not believe their ears in mid-August, this year, when they were told that Tanzania did not know the amount of tuna fish caught from the Indian Ocean, where over 70 foreign fishing vessels are operating on the Tanzania side.

This revelation came at the backdrop of reports that Nile Perch stocks in Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater covering 68,000 square kilometres with a catchment area of 193,000 square kilometres, were declining at an alarming pace due to over-fishing and illegal fishing.

“This country might be losing billions of shillings from tuna catches by foreign vessels in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),” said Shaaban Mayonzi, a fisherman from Msimbati fishing village in Mtwara Region.

His frustration was confirmed by Edward Kimakwa, the fisheries programme officer for WWF’s Coastal East Africa Network Initiative, who said there was limited data on how much tuna stock was exploited by foreign vessels also known as distant water fishing nations due to weak monitoring, control and surveillance.

Mr Kimakwa was speaking at a two-day 3rd national dialogue on sustainable tuna fisheries management in Tanzania jointly organised by the ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development and WWF Tanzania to identify challenges facing the tuna fishery sub-sector and seek common solutions for improved governance and increased benefits from this resource.

The dialogue attracted participants from relevant government agencies, the private sector, academia, fishers’ associations, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations, among others.

Mr Kimakwa said the fisheries sector contributed 1.4 per cent to Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP), adding that in 2010 an average of 1,021.6 tonnes were obtained from Tanzania’s EEZ while 7,834.8 were obtained from Mainland Tanzania artisanal fishery.

A statistician with the Zanzibar-based Deep Sea Fishing Authority (DSFA), Mr Ranwel Mbukwah, said the authority, which came into operation in 2009 had licensed foreign fishing vessels from Taiwan, China, Spain and France to fish tuna in the country’s deep seas.

 Ms Asha Khatibu, a licensing officer with the DSFA, said about 77 foreign fishing vessels were licensed in 2013/14.  “We are monitoring these vessels using a vessel monitoring system,” she added.

Ms Fatma Sobo, assistant director for Fisheries Resource Development in the ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, said until then Tanzania had not established the number of its tuna stocks. “It is a very difficult task to conduct a census for the tuna stocks because it requires a substantial amount of money, but efforts are underway to conduct the census,” Ms Sobo said.

Dr Baraka Kuguru, a research scientist with the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (Tafiri) at the Dar es Salaam Centre, said there was a need for more detailed research in the country’s EEZ aiming at exploring deep sea resources.

“The challenge is availability of funds to conduct the research,” said Dr Kuguru, adding that most of the fisheries research activities in the EEZ had been done by some developed countries using Tanzanian flags. Ms Sobo also raised concerns over lack of a harbour specifically for fisheries in the country, saying Tanzania benefited from issuing of fishing licences only. Ms Sobo added that a fishing harbour facilitated the inspection of fishing vessels, forced the vessels to offload their catches at the port for exports, thus earning the country relevant taxes and creating employment for local people.

Ms Lydia Mwakanema, WWF Africa’s programme technical assistant, said lack of a fisheries harbour was to blame for failing to get statistics on the amount of tuna caught from Tanzania’s deep seas.

Global production of tuna and tuna-like species has steadily increased over the past 50 years, from less than 0.6 million tonnes in 1950 to over 6 million tonnes in 2004, worth about $5 billion.

Participants in the dialogue felt that increased demand from West, China and Japan, whose domestic resources had dwindled from poor management presented a challenge as well as an opportunity for the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) states, including Tanzania, in their efforts to exploit and manage tuna stocks in a sustainable manner.

The deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, Dr Yohana Budeba, assured the participants that government plans were afoot to construct a harbour specifically for fisheries, which would enable the country to reap maximum benefits from tuna catches by foreign vessels in its EEZ in deep seas. Tanzania is among the top 10 countries in Africa in terms of total capture of fisheries production, but it only contributes 1.4 per cent to the GDP. Dr Budeba said the government had set aside Sh300 million for feasibility studies for the construction of the harbour.

“We are now in the process of making terms of reference before inviting tenders from consultants that will conduct the feasibility studies,” said Dr Budeba, when launching the Tanzania tuna fishery management strategy at the end of the dialogue. The strategy has been developed with assistance from WWF Tanzania to promote sustainable use and management of tuna. He said the feasibility studies would determine, where the harbour would be constructed along Tanzania’s 1,424-kilometre coast line.

“Areas to be surveyed include Kilwa, Lindi, Mtwara, Tanga and Bagamoyo. But the final decision on the location of the harbour will depend on the outcome of the feasibility studies,” said Dr Budeba.

He said the harbour, the first of its kind to be constructed in Tanzania, would enable the government to monitor and control foreign ships fishing tuna in the deep seas. He said Tanzania was only earning registration and licence fees from the foreign fishing vessels to a tune of $35,000 per ship annually.

Dr Budeba said the port would facilitate the inspection of fishing vessels, compel the vessels to offload their catches at the port for exports, thus earning the country relevant taxes and creating employment for Tanzanians.

Implementation of the strategy will be coordinated by the Department of Fisheries Development of Zanzibar and the Fisheries Development Division of Tanzania Mainland. The Deep Sea Fishing Authority will be mandated to regulate fishing in the EEZ, while the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (Tafiri) will organise and conduct fisheries research in the EEZ.

Other national, regional and international organisations, including the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the Southwest Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission and the International Whaling Commission will be participating in the implementation of the strategy in specific areas, where they have interest.

The Western Indian Ocean Region is important for tuna and supports one of the largest industrial fisheries, which accounts for 70- 80 per cent of the Indian Ocean catch and 20 per cent of the global production, worth some $2-3 billion annually.

Tuna presents the richest single-species fishery potential in the country.  The challenge to Tanzania, therefore, is how to take advantage of the opportunities of the globalised world of fisheries and trade and bring about significant flow of the benefits to Tanzania’s economy and improve living standards of local communities, who depend on the coastal and marine fisheries resources for their livelihood. 

The main objective of the dialogue was to bring together and provide a platform for key actors in the marine fisheries sector in Tanzania with a view to evaluating the current status of implementation of sustainable development and management of tuna/tuna-like fisheries initiatives in the country, while taking into consideration regional and global perspectives. 

The WWF Tanzania country director, Mr Bell’Aube Houinato, said WWF was committed to the conservation of biological diversity and also ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources was sustainable, including coastal and marine resources.

“In Tanzania, WWF is working closely with the ministry responsible for fisheries in partnership with key stakeholders, including local fishing communities to promote the vibrant marine fisheries sector, including the octopus, shrimp, reef fisheries and tuna,” he said in his statement read on his behalf by Mr Jeremiah Daffa, WWF Tanzania policy advisor.