Africa-Press – Cape verde. The president of the Instituto do Mar (IMar), Albertino Martins, considered this Tuesday, in Mindelo, the need for the archipelago to diversify the species of fish to be fished, invest in a specialized fleet and in scientific research.
The official, who was speaking to the press following his participation in the conference “Sustainable fisheries management”, as part of Cape Verde Ocean Week, admitted that there is a duality between the availability of resources and over-exploitation in fishing.
“We have been fishing in a traditional way, often industrially, wherever possible, but, in any case, we continue to do artisanal fishing in the way we have done for a long time”, he highlighted, adding that the same species have been captured and in the same places.
But, the idea, according to the same source, is to diversify and explore a potential that “is not being explored”.
Especially because fishing in the country, he highlighted, is being done mainly for species such as mackerel, chicharro, and, in recent times, melva, considered an “important niche” used by canning producers, and with a fishing effort being channeled towards that that operators believe will sell soon.
“We have potential to be explored, which are deep resources and we are not being efficient in that aspect. We have groupers, moray eels and all bream and we also have species with much more commercial value such as sharon, blackmouth, and we are not reaching these resources because we do not have a specialized fleet”, said Albertino Martins.
Hence, he maintained, the issue of modernizing the fleet is pressing to “exploit what little we have, in a sustainable way”.
Meanwhile, the president of IMar says he is aware of the financial capacity of shipowners and, therefore, he went ahead, the Government is investing in the fibering of boats, to increase the efficiency of the search for resources, which at the moment, due to the “strong influences ” climate change and rising water temperatures have driven species deeper or further.
Albertino Martins declared, on the other hand, that transformation involves changing mentality and also investing in scientific research
“Scientific research is fundamental, it is the support of the fisheries administration. We cannot manage what we do not know and this is the role of IMar in the ecosystem at the Ministry of the Sea”, he explained.
And in this regard, he asserted, Cape Verde has been an “example” of sustainable management, by transforming research into management policies, when there are resources in stress and others that are not being explored, but which, he asserted, have a “ enormous diversity” and can bring riches.
Cape Verde Ocean Week activities continue until Friday, 17th, with conferences, ‘blue talks’, blue fair, project presentation, among others.
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