Overfishing cost Africa about a million tons of fish per year, according to a document from the eighth International Conference on African Development, which opened Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to the document, obtained by PANA, overfishing affects the productivity of Africa’s marine ecosystems and is a huge loss both in terms of potential income and impact on food security.
“A loss of one million tons of fish in weight is tantamount to a loss of a million cattle per year and it is clear that such a loss has a significant impact on the continent’s food security,” the document indicated, saying that “Even though similar estimates do not exist for inland fisheries, experts believe that this field probably experiences the same situation.”
The FAO and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Action Plan — 2005, argue that Africa is yet to tap the huge potential that aquaculture holds for the continent.
The fact that African fisheries and aquaculture are not commensurate with their economic potential is a major issue that must be addressed urgently, the studies said.
The eighth African Development Forum (ADF-VIII) is discussing the theme “Leveraging State-Society Dialogue for Improving Natural Resource Governance in Africa”.
Being a major biennial meeting of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the African Development Forum is a multi-stakeholder debate and discussion aimed at initiating concrete strategies for the development of Africa in a bid to establish an agenda for Africa-driven development, based on consensus and specific programmes to implement.
