This is a renewal of an agreement according to the indications of the Ministry of Fisheries and the Blue Economy (MPEB). “The commissioning of these vessels will thus make it possible to capture a forecast of 3,769 tonnes of products. It will generate an annual provisional fee of 1,809,700,000 ariary” underlines the report of the Council of Ministers. This amount represents three times the revenue currently collected according to information received from the MPEB. In addition, these agreements will create approximately 261 positions for seafarers on board. Industrial fishing in Madagascar concerns vessels whose engine power is greater than 50 hp. To avoid conflicts with small-scale fishermen and artisanal vessels, the press release reassures that “their fishing zone is further away, beyond 8 nautical miles on the west coast and beyond 2 nautical miles on the east coast”. . In addition, these boats are subject to catch quotas, it was indicated by the authorities. However, “industrial fishing vessels still pose a threat to resources despite the imposed quota or tonnage limitation. Industrial vessels, trawlers and tuna boats are material investments that are only profitable from a fairly large catch, which represents a risk of stock reduction,” says Djamaly, a member of a fishermen’s association in Diana region. The other threat weighs on regeneration. “You have to watch the size of the fish and the maturity of the fish, which is not easy in industrial fishing,” he added.
Artisanal fishing
Our interlocutor at the supervisory ministry reassures that: “The regulations in force, among other things the establishment of fishing quotas and the regulation of the minimum size of the fish caught, make Madagascar world famous as a good model in the management of its fishery resources. Indeed, the MPEB aims through the regulations to reduce fishing effort, which concerns both the tonnage of live species caught and the means implemented such as the size of the fleet, the size of the vessels, the time spent at sea, distances covered, etc. The Council of Ministers also approved in the same vein the establishment of small-scale fishing agreement protocols which concern twenty-nine small-scale fishing vessels and one support vessel. The related royalty forecast is estimated at 1,829,900,000 ariary, with a forecast catch of 4,059.5 tonnes.