Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Minister of the Sea, Abraão Vicente, announced this Thursday that works will begin to improve the Praia Fishing Pier, namely the widening of the pier, foreseen in Enapor’s activity plan for 2024.Abraão Vicente spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the meeting with fishing owners from the city of Praia to talk to them about the current state of the sector and the sector’s current challenges.
The objective, according to the minister, is to have a public-private investment, with Enapor being the company that will “assume” part of the costs for expanding the fishing pier.
Abraão Vicente clarified that there are a number of vessels at the fishing pier that compromise the entire fishing pier and have been compromising the maneuvers of some boats.
“Apparently we have many semi-industrial vessels, which causes this perception that there are many vessels, but what exists is the lack of space on the fishing pier”.
This situation was also mentioned by shipowner Rafael Meneses, who pointed out that many fishing boats have been built and are left idle at the pier, which causes constraints for other vessels, adding that there is a serious lack of labor.
“Today we have more than half of the boats inside the pier without men to work, but every day we see new boats at the pier”, said Rafael Meneses.
However, he recommended Minister Abraão Vicente to start investing in different places, at different times and introduce new fishing techniques in Cape Verde, indicating that there are, for example, “many deep resources” that need to be fished.
“We have been focusing on traditional fish, which Cape Verdeans are already used to consuming, but climate change has brought about the idea that it is necessary to diversify the type of fishing, species and quantity that is fished. For example, we have a large availability of welded shrimp, but we don’t have any shipowners using this practice and despite having three active licenses, we also have sea cucumber and lobster that we need to diversify”, he explained.
The meeting with the shipowners, according to the minister, also served to present the balance of the recovery line that was launched, where the Autonomous Fishing Fund has been financing around 20 percent (%), non-refundable, for the construction of new vessels, purchase of engines and networks.
The official revealed that by 2024 they intend to continue with the fibering of boats, stating that the notices will be re-released because, in some locations, there were delays due to the lack of fiber and the lack of companies specializing in fibering, with the aim of providing durability. and vessel safety.
Regarding licenses, he explained that they found that during inspections, many vessels receive fines for illegal fishing, outside the terms of the law and never paid fines and debts.
“And what we set as one of the criteria for renewing licenses in 2024 is the payment of fines. Payment of fines is an obligation of the State and, obviously, it is a prerequisite for us to negotiate. What I can say is that no one will be left without going to sea to fish, which is why the meeting serves to raise awareness among shipowners that when there is malfeasance it is necessary to have a dialogue with the institutions, namely with the General Fisheries Inspectorate , even to give credibility to the work being done in this regard”, explained the Minister of the Sea.
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