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Investigation No. 2 Fake licensing operation uncovered

by FISH-i Africa

Summary

At a time when the threat of piracy was considered the reason for low numbers of fishing vessels obtaining licences to fish in Tanzanian waters, a large organised network distributing fake documents through corrupt practises was exposed.

Detailed description

At a time when the threat of piracy was considered the reason for low numbers of fishing vessels obtaining licences to fish in Tanzanian waters, a large organised network distributing fake documents through corrupt practises was exposed. As a direct result of this exposure, many vessels that had been fishing in Tanzanian waters with fraudulent fishing licences were forced to obtain legal fishing licences from the Tanzanian authorities, increasing government revenue and improving control over the country’s fisheries. Improved licensing procedures have since been introduced, and a Multi-Agency Task Team (MATT) has been established to deal with organised environmental crimes in Tanzania.

More Information

Submitted By

Justin Slabbert
Created At

2019-06-27 02:37:20

Revised At

2019-06-27 02:37:55

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FISH-i Africa

The Western Indian Ocean is home to abundant fish resources that sustain a thriving fishing industry, which in turn support local economies and a provides food and jobs in the region and abroad. These resources also fuel one of the world’s illegal fishing hot spots – destroying the marine environment, robbing national economies, stealing food and livelihoods from local people, and undermining legitimate industry. In response – eight countries – Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania – have joined forces to tackle this problem. These countries had already pledged to take actions against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, but in reality, with combined waters of nearly five million square kilometres and limited assets and capacity, overcoming the complex web of large-scale illegal fishing was a challenge that they could not take on individually. So in late 2012 FISH-i Africa was formed with the aim to improve cooperation, information and intelligence sharing in order to take enforcement actions against illegal fishing operators.