According to the president of the Artisanal, Semi-Industrial and Industrial Fishing Association of Luanda, Manuel Bernardo Azevedo, the robberies are carried out between midnight and 3am on the high seas, by groups of men armed with pistols and AKM-47s.
Manuel Azevedo said, in statements to Lusa news agency, that the robbers steal the fish and the boats' engines, causing great losses to the fishermen.
"We are constantly filing complaints and working with the police, at this moment some fishermen and cooperatives are meeting in Barra do Bengo and in Cacuaco, so that we can evaluate this situation", he said.
The association official pointed out that the group of assailants is composed of four unidentified men, who arrive in two boats, with three hooded men and another one, who comes from behind, unmasked.
The president of the association stressed that there have never been victims among the fishermen, only the theft of motors and fish.
"An engine costs between 4.5 million kwanzas to five million kwanzas, which is the highest cost, then there are the nets, we have already had cases where they took the nets, but as it is a process that takes time, you have to take them out of the water, sometimes there are fish and sometimes not, so the engine is faster", he explained.
According to Manuel Azevedo, fishermen abandoned on the high seas have been rescued by sympathetic colleagues.
The matter was reported to the Captaincy of Luanda and to the Police, as well as to the Ministries of the Interior, of National Defense, and the Government of Luanda Province.
"The dispatch that we received from the Ministries of the Interior and of Defense referred the matter to the Inspectorate, and we are working with that body, but new robberies have occurred again. The report that we had made was related to the robberies registered last year", he referred.
Given the complaint, the Association of Artisanal Fisheries, Semi-industrial and Industrial of Luanda expected changes, however, new robberies were recorded again and with greater frequency.
"We expected that there would be another attitude, that patrols would increase, now the wave is back, last year there were three cases registered, but this year there are already ten and we still haven't finished the year," he lamented.
