Trawlers Owners: Why Commercial Fishing is Dying in Nigeria
John Iwori
Owners of fishing trawlers have enumerated the factors responsible for the decline in commercial fishing in the country.
The owners under the aegis of the Fishing Trawl ers Owners Association of Ni geria (FTOAN) said apart from inconsistency in federal government policies on fishing, the high cost of automotive gas oil, piracy and sea armed robbery have combined to frustrate commercial fishing in the country.
Giving an insight into the travails of fishing trawlers operators, the President of FTOAN, Mr. Akinsola Amire told newsmen in Lagos that the association was also worried about the fate that befall it if the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) make good its threat to quit it from its officially designated operational base situated at Kirikiri Lighter Terminal, Apapa, Lagos.
Amire, who is a former Director in the De partment of Fisheries and Oceanography, stated that it was wrong for the federal government to concession the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal and without consideration for the fishing trawlers operators in the country.
He also wondered why the price of diesel is not subsided for commercial fishing expeditions in Nigeria as it is obtainable in other part of the world.
He argued that this need to be quickly addressed as diesel con stitutes about 85 per cent of the running cost of fishing trawlers operations in the country.
“Today, the price of that same litre is N145.00. The price of fish and the price of our products cannot rise in that manner because of the international nature of the business”, he added.
According to Amire, who is also the Gener al Manager of ORC Fishing and Food Processing Limited, there was never a time fishing companies in Nigeria got as high as 178 “but I am aware that at a point, we had 45 companies as members of our association. Unfortunately, because of insecurity, high cost of automotive gas oil, which is the pri mary raw material for running our vessels, a lot of companies which could not cope had to leave. At a point too, there was a lot of insecu rity. Piracy and sea armed robbery, culminated in a lot of problems for our members and some of us felt that being in business, only to settle debt benefits, was not worth their while.
He expressed dismay that a lot of migration has taken place in commercial fishing busi ness in the country in recent times.”
According to him, “Before now, members of the association were very vibrant in as sisting government in meeting a lot of its objectives. Between 2005 and 2006, the association contributed the fourth highest foreign exchange from non-oil sector to the coffers of government. This was confirmed by Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC). If the associa tion employed 10,000 people, then in effect, we provide livelihood to more than half a million people be cause within the value chain, a lot of people queue in. Even now, fish importation is thriving because the number of fishing trawlers in Nige ria has gone down. The direct inter pretation of this is that the quantum of fish available to our population has gone down. This should be of concern to government”.
He decried a situation where fishing trawlers operators are at the mercy of pirates and sea armed robbers.
According to him, our operations went down as a result of massive and consistent at tacks by pirates and sea armed rob bers. However, we are grateful to the military for their intervention.
Besides the threat to eject them from Kirikiri Light Terminal, Apapa, Lagos, he stated that the Na tional Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) was also on the neck of members of FTOAN for survey and registration of fishing vessels.
In order to make members of FTOAN survive the harsh economic environment, he called on the federal government to revisit the issue of concessioning and diesel with a view to assisting the industry.
He also stated that government needs to look at the issue of Export Expansion Grant (EEG) to members of FTOAN. According to him, the grant does not come in time anymore and when it comes, converting it becomes a problem.
“It has since dwindled from 25 per cent to only 15 per cent and if it does not come in four, five years, what is the use? In my company, we have a fleet of 12 vessels and have the scope for expansion. The association has a combined fleet of 125 vessels and has the potential to increase the fleet if government provides an enabling environment for commercial fishing to thrive in the country,” he said.