Call for better marsec in Cameroon

IUU fishing becoming a serious problem in region.

Cameroon Tribune calls for more maritime security on our waterways

Cameroon Tribune has sounded a note of caution to the CPDM government calling for an increase in maritime security on our waterways. The national daily in an editorial scripted by Nkemden Forbinake, the paper revealed that a strange fishing vessel has since last Wednesday been shored up in the Douala harbour after being impounded by the Cameroonian navy as it was carrying out illegal fishing activity within Cameroonian territorial waters off the coast of Limbe in the South-West Region. What is particularly interesting about the fishing vessel is the impressive quantity of fish found on board.

Initially determined by customs officials to be some tens of tons, officials of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries in Douala, after verification of the vessel at the harbor, are rather talking of a much more impressive quantity which further betrays the impunity with which fishing boats come into the rich waters of our nation’s south-western coasts to fish. In effect, the captured vessel was about three nautical miles from the authorized line; so right into Cameroonian territory! This is just one case, certainly among many who do business right into our waters and get off scot-free with their huge catches. Cameroon is currently facing numerous security challenges with the Boko Haram insurgency in the Far-North Region of the country being the main theatre of operations to keep the national territory safe from the sporadic attempts of this heartless sect. This can partly explain the absence of the kind of security presence necessary to keep poachers at bay.

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Source: cameroon-concord.com