Africa has the potential to increase its freshwater fishery output by at least 1 million metric tons (MT) annually by reviewing current regulations on harvesting, according to a new report. “Developing the potential of inland fisheries is a major challenge but can also be viewed as an opportunity to meet Africa’s growing need for fish and, hence, better nutrition,” the report said. Conversely, the conventional single-species fisheries management approach that most fisheries in Africa take to harvesting has, for decades, failed to “prevent overfishing, lacking control over the continuous increase in fishing capacity or the technological developments that went with it,” according to the report. “Conventional fisheries management [also] fails to take into account the interactions between species and that the structure of ecosystems, by focusing heavily on target selectivity, has been severely impacted despite all the conservation measures implemented,” the report said. To warm the industry up to the new approach, the report recommends educational programs targeting such stakeholders as fishery managers, tourism fishing captains, conservationists, and civil society organizations on the principles of balanced harvesting.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 17, 2024 09:01 UTC