Speaking to Lusa on the sidelines of the conference "Economy of the Sea - The potential of the national fishing industry," held Wednesday in Luanda, the official noted that most of the fines imposed, in the case of industrial fishing, were related to the violation of catch limits.
There were also cases of omission of data, disconnection of monitoring equipment and lack of documents, he added.
Most of the infringements (38) were detected in artisanal fishing vessels, where there was an increase in the fines imposed compared to the previous year.
Maria Matos admitted that the non-compliances are partly related to changes in licensing powers that have been transferred to municipal administrations, still requiring some "adaptation".
"As some fishermen are located in distant places, they use this argument and end up not even going to deal with the documents", she justified.
The enforcement officer said that the ministerial department is working to make fishermen aware of the need to have the documentation required by law, but also of the fact that they use prohibited fishing gear, which affects juveniles in particular.
"There are 'sponsors' who encourage them, many of them foreigners, from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They do the drying and then export the fish, it's a process that we are working on together with the police," she reported.
Mara Matos believes that the means are not enough, but they allow us to do the inspection in a minimally organized way, stating that they have a project in the pipeline that includes the acquisition of more means, starting in 2022.
The conference was organized by the magazine Economia & Mercado and focused on the analysis of the economy of the sea and the sea as a pillar for the economic diversification of Angola, which offers, besides oil - the main source of revenue for the Angolan GDP - several other resources and business opportunities for nationals and foreigners.
