Thursday, April 21, 2005
Philip Mwakio
The new Government of Somalia is looking at exploiting the war torn country's vast maritime resources to help generate economic life, a Somali official said on Tuesday.
Owing to its earlier success story as one of the leading maritime nations in the East Coast of Africa, the country coming out of several years of civil strife, has measures aimed at boosting its fishery resources.
Dr Abdulrahman Kulmiye, Chief Technical Advisor in the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine said his government has a strategy to restore fishery sub-sector, which formed one of the main economic mainstays.
Kulmiye said that the new Somalia Government deemed it fit to re-establish the fisheries ministry soon after its election in exile.
The official was speaking at the ongoing South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission meeting in Mombasa.
The South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Commission draws its membership from Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Somalia and Yemen.
Also represented were island nations of the Comoros, Maldives, Mayottee (France) Re-Union (EU) and the Seychelles.
He announced that they are holding tentative discussions with bilateral donors and friendly government's to help jump start the fishery sub sector.
Somalia boasts Africa's longest coast-line that covers 3,300km with records indicating that its untapped fisheries resources amount to well over 300,000 metric tonnes that can be harvested annually.