Africa-Press – Angola. The director of the provincial office for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Laurindo Ladeira, stressed this Monday, in the municipality of Porto Amboim, the importance of artisanal fishing shipowners legalizing their activity.
At the end of a meeting with shipowners, the official denounced the existence of many fishermen who fish without being registered or licensed.
For this reason, he continued, “there is a need for more awareness work, since fishing without a license is illegal and violates the norms on biological resources”.
On the other hand, he made it known that, in this region, at least 210 shipowners are already licensed for artisanal fishing and are awaiting cards for the purchase of subsidized gasoline of kz 160 per liter.
Laurindo Ladeira said that only licensed vessels will be able to receive the cards with a load of kz 140,000 per month.
For this reason, he stressed to the shipowners the fact that the modality of access to the subsidy is through licensing.
“From the meeting with the shipowners we realized that there are some constraints for licensing, related to bureaucracy in the procedures, difficulties in paying and acquiring the Tax Identification Number (NIF), lack of identity card and willingness to license themselves”, he said.
On the occasion, shipowners present at the meeting defended the need to increase the value of the shipment for each gasoline subsidy card, taking into account the costs of operations, estimated at Kz 180 thousand per day, and the limits of the fishing zone, against the 140,000 of the grant awarded per month.
IPA sensitizes fishermen to licensing
The head of the department at the Artisanal Fisheries Institute, José Prazeres Fortuna, stated that “the registration and licensing of fishermen continue to be carried out so that the fishing community is legal and can benefit from the gasoline subsidy”.
“We are working with the fishing communities to fulfill the role of providing administrative and technical support, as well as clarifying the benefits of legalization”, he reinforced.
It ensured the existence, without quantifying, of fishermen without registration and without licensing who fish illegally, since many of these vessels are manufactured outside the control of the authorities.
In the province of Cuanza Sul, more than 400 artisanal fishing shipowners are already registered and, of these, 150 are licensed in Sumbe and 210 in Porto Amboim.
Fisherman’s association suggests decentralization of issuing cards
The president of the Cuanza Sul Fishermen’s Association, Bernardo Mateus, defended the need to decentralize the issuance of gasoline subsidy cards, to avoid delays and some discontent on the part of shipowners.
“While we continue to centralize to Luanda then we will always have some complaints and in this sector we will have a variation in the sale of fish, taking into account that our activity is daily”, he stressed.
For the head of the association, “it is necessary to empower the local authorities so that there is speed in issuing and decongesting, just see that since the 2nd of June last, with the rise to 300 liters of gasoline, the fisherman continues to buy from the unsubsidized price”.
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