IUU fishing all around the world and especially here
in Tanzania is a big problem
because none of the fish that
is taken out during IUU fishing
is accounted for. And when it's taken
illegally here, unreported or unregulated
which is what the IUU stands for, we don't know that. So we don't know how much fish
is taken out. They can use illegal methods which take a huge toll
on the fish. And it takes fish away from
the local artisanal fishermen. This is not a Tanzanian
problem alone. This is a world problem and
the international community is united to fight
against the IUU because, within the IUU, Illegal, Unreported and
Unregulated fishing, there are a lot of atrocities
that are happenning on the ocean while people
are fishing illegally. Total catch on board? It says about 32 tons. - 32 tons?
- Yeah. Bycatch? How many bycatch do you have? - Shark?
- No. No, no shark. No shark. How many? How many?
Because they will ask me. We are still busy counting. You did not record any sharks
that you caught. You did not record. Why? The owners of the vessels
practicing IUU, mostly, they will do
other buisnesses which are unregretted. So, whenever you deal with IUU, in the same time you are going
to face other crimes. The crimes like smuggling
of goods, smuggling of other natural
ressources, like timber, minings,
ivory... All these are crimes, attempts which the world
is trying to erradicate. So, for me, IUU is not easy to differenciate
from the other marine crimes. When these bigger ships
come for fishing, we do not know what
they carry with them. Some of the ships that
are coming in our waters, come with chemical waste and they deposit them
in our ocean. They come with illegal
immigrants, they come with small arms, they come with drugs. We do not know what they
have with them when they are in our waters. And this is a danger
to our country. We arrested two large longliners
offshore and inspected several others. The result of that was that
the entire fleet left Tanzanian waters to go to the high seas
or to other EEZ. And it makes you think that most of them were doing
something illegal because the ones that we would
inspect and release, it was really not a big
imposition on them. It is a normal part of fisheries to have fisheries inspections. The outcome for Tanzania during
Operation Jodari was very positive. Not only did it make
the foreign fishing fleet aware that Tanzania was
not afraid to enforce the law
on IUU fishing, it also helped Tanzania to
enforce other maritime crimes that involve smuggling
of drugs, smuggling of environmental
ressources. The patrols that we did started
an eradication of these crimes because people were being
prosecuted, it was being publicised, and the Tanzanians and
the international community at large were seing what
was happening. So, that entire fleet just
disappeared from Tanzanian waters, which left us to concentrate
on other issues. Some of which were mangrove and
charcoal smuggling. Both are very destructive to
the environment of the mangroves which are an important part of
the coastal environment here in Tanzania. And that has shut down hugely. We have seen illegal ferry boats with up to 60 passengers on
board including small children, with absolutely no safety gear out in the rough waters
in the channels here, going back and forth. I can say that being here
has affected me a lot. And it has changed a lot
my outlook. So this operation has
helped me and I will transmit this experience, and the knowledge
that I got to all the people that will
be around me
or work with me.
<i><b><u><font color=#00000000></font></u></b></i> And also I am going to advice
my seniors that this operation must be like
a model. Whenever we are going to sea, working with other authorities and task team, we should take as a model what
we have been doing during Operation Jodari. I got some experience on board
for my job. I'm doing a job in
the marine police, so I got a lot of
experience, like how to dive, how to clean a ship, how to protect from fire
on a ship... We do not have a big ship
like the Ocean Warrior for doing a patrol like this. So, I got a lot, a lot of experience
from this ship. Between myself, JD and Yohram, who is the leader
of the marines, we plan our day,
where we going to go, what sort of vessels we want
to look for, and work our some sort
of logistical plan for the patrol and it
changes everyday depending on the weather, depending on what
intelligence we get, all sort of things going to
that mix. Sea Shepherd is providing
a platform for law enforcement to enable
them to properly enforce the law in the EEZ. This collaboration will only
be enhanced if the other countries with
bordering EEZ join in on this operation,
so that we can patrol various EEZ, and the criminals
have no place to run to. As I said previously,
the IUU problem is global and we need some other
countries to join on this original operation. We had the case of the
STS 50 vessel which was running
from Mozambique and that we tried to chase
through this mission but we failed, due
to the discussion of the boundaries from one
area to another. But if we would join all the East-African countries or the IOTC countries
fighting on this
mission, we could have crossed
from one country to another, without having
any legal problem. First of all, I will take
this opportunity to thank Sea Shepherd for the assistance that they
have rendered to our country. That goes without saying that
we would wish to continue a partnership with Sea Shepherd because the crew
within Sea Shepherd have provided training
to our personnel. They have helped them to profile the vessels that have been
seized in the Indian Ocean. They have trained them to
be able to profile them, and then to be able to board, and then to search the vessels, to detain the crew. These are the benefits that
we have acquired out of the assistance that
we have attended from the Sea Shepherd authority. And we have been able now to protect our Exclusive
Economic Zone. It has acted as a detterence for people to stop illegal
fishing in our waters. But also we have been able now
to stop other crimes that are related
to IUU. The next step is to expand this campaign to the entire
East coast of Africa, and then East and West
coasts of Africa, and then the entire world. Anywhere where the governments do not have necessarily
ressources to provide a ship to patrol
their EEZ, I think that, you know,
a partnership with Sea Shepherd would be a really good way
to go. And I think that it is like
the whole world crowdfunding protection of the oceans, since the oceans do belong
to all of us.
