{"id":148234,"date":"2026-02-10T20:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T20:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/east-african-nations-unite-against-illegal-fishing"},"modified":"2026-02-10T21:23:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T21:23:02","slug":"east-african-nations-unite-against-illegal-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/tanzania\/all-news\/east-african-nations-unite-against-illegal-fishing","title":{"rendered":"East African Nations Unite Against Illegal Fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Tanzania. <\/strong> <\/span>Regional leaders and fisheries experts have sounded the alarm on illegal fishing in the South West Indian Ocean, warning that foreign industrial fleets are &#8220;plundering&#8221; local waters.<\/p>\n<p>At a high-level summit in Zanzibar, officials from across East Africa vowed to crack down on unregulated fishing (IUUF), noting that enforcement gaps are currently allowing outsiders to drain coastal economies.<\/p>\n<p>The three-day Blue Voices Regional Summit, hosted in Zanzibar under the Jahazi Project, brought together ministers, legal officers, and maritime agencies from Tanzania and Kenya to coordinate regional action. Delegates framed IUUF as a challenge not only to marine ecosystems but also to sovereignty, livelihoods, and economic development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIllegal fishing is not just an environmental issue; it is about food security, livelihoods, sovereignty, and development,\u201d said Mboja Ramadhani Mshenga, Deputy Minister in Zanzibar\u2019s Ministry of Blue Economy and Fisheries.<\/p>\n<p>During plenary and closed sessions, delegates raised concerns over distant-water commercial fleets, particularly vessels linked to Southern and Eastern Asian interests, including some associated with Chinese companies.<\/p>\n<p>Speakers stressed the focus was on compliance and enforcement, not nationality, but noted that industrial-scale operations and opaque ownership structures make monitoring and accountability difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign fleets, participants argued, operate beyond the capacity of local monitoring, while fragmented legal frameworks across coastal states allow operators to shift activities between jurisdictions. \u201cWe must ensure that those who exploit our waters find no haven anywhere in our region,\u201d said Hon. Mshenga.<\/p>\n<p>Officials described IUUF as \u201ceconomic theft\u201d from coastal communities, where fisheries provide vital income and food security.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Paul Orina, Director General of the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, stressed the importance of regional collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIllegal actors succeed when countries act alone and fail when regions act together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Legal experts highlighted that inconsistent penalties across countries encourage offenders to relocate activity to less restrictive jurisdictions. Leonard Bett Cheruiyoti, Deputy Chief State Counsel in Kenya, warned: \u201cWhen penalties are low in one jurisdiction, crime migrates there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The summit concluded with commitments to strengthen legal coordination, harmonise prosecution frameworks, and improve information sharing among maritime and fisheries authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Captain Hamad Bakari Hamad, Principal Secretary in Zanzibar\u2019s Ministry of Blue Economy and Fisheries, said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSecuring our seas together is not a slogan; it is an economic necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several participating countries signed a regional cooperation framework, signalling a move from fragmented national responses towards coordinated governance of the South West Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Tanzania<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Tanzania. Regional leaders and fisheries experts have sounded the alarm on illegal fishing in the South West Indian Ocean, warning that foreign industrial fleets are &#8220;plundering&#8221; local waters. At a high-level summit in Zanzibar, officials from across East Africa vowed to crack down on unregulated fishing (IUUF), noting that enforcement gaps are currently [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":148233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[711],"class_list":["post-148234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-tanzania"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>East African Nations Unite Against Illegal Fishing - Tanzania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Tanzania. 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