For the president of the Association of Artisanal, Semi-Industrial and Industrial Fishing of Luanda (APASIL), Manuel Azevedo, the recent statements by the governor of Namibe, about the vessels that carry out trawling activities "are worrying".
Last Saturday, the governor of Namibe province, Archer Mangueira, defended the need to create a complex to support artisanal fishing in the province, and greater inspection of fishing activity in the region, aiming to stop "permanent conflicts in areas reserved for semi-fishing -industrial and artisan".
The official, quoted by Angop, spoke of "constant violations of industrial trawling vessels", when presenting a memorandum on the province, as part of the visit that President João Lourenço carried out to that region on Saturday and Sunday.
At the end of a press conference, which "contested" Archer Mangueira's statements, the APASIL leader reaffirmed to Lusa that "both the vessels and the companies operating in the region are legal".
"And all the operations carried out in the Moçâmedes bay (capital of the province of Namibe) are related operations, also authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, all of them are inspected," he noted.
The president of APASIL, which has 90 percent of members with vessels operating in the north, center and south of Angola, also denied the reported shortage of fish, fearing "some lynching of its members" for alleged illegal trawling.
Asked whether or not there is fish, he stressed that the associates "have caught", but expressed concern about the reaction of the citizens: "we are worried that any citizen will be able to lynch our boats saying they are illegal".
"It is the concern of our associates, which is why we quickly called this press conference to say that it is necessary to differentiate the wheat from the chaff," he pointed out.
APASIL, established two years ago, controls 70 artisanal fishing cooperatives, 20 semi-industrial fishing associates and 52 companies operating in industrial fishing.
The official considers that where there is legal fishing "it is obvious that illegal fishing can happen", but, he noted, "the legal ones are worried because when it comes to taking measures, they always take measures on the legal ones".
"So, it was the concern of our associates in this segment who contacted us to clarify that the vessels that carry out trawling activities in Namibe, the APASIL associates, are legal, they were licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries", he said today in an interview with Portuguese
"In terms of artisanal fishing and semi-industrial fishing, our jurisdiction is only Luanda, whereas in terms of industrial fishing, our jurisdiction is from Cabinda to Namibe", explained Manuel Azevedo.
Industrial fishing "represents 60 percent of catches for the national market and beyond. There is another sign that many defend that it is necessary to have infrastructure on land, but a vessel is also a floating infrastructure that it also employs", concluded the leader of the APASIL
