Dispatches International
THE LEGAL AND ILLEGAL COMPETITION FOR TANZANIA’S FISH
Abraham Makinda “I
n our job fishing in the oceans, we don’t know the meaning of the law as a
means of balance and fairness,” a small-scale fisherman working on the Tanzanian coast just outside of Dar es Salaam tells me. He says his name is Kilapo the Fisherman and that he has been fishing here for many years. “We believe the law is the hands of powerful people who are clever enough to control the lives of others.” Kilapo is referring to a prob-
lem facing most small fishermen in Eastern Africa, a difficulty that is frustrating the Tanzanian gov- ernment, giving small-scale fisher- men like him a bad environmental record, and depleting natural fish- eries in the Indian Ocean. He is re- ferring to illegal fishing. While Kilapo tries to harvest
the natural fisheries in a sustain- able manner, other fishermen em- ploy exploitative techniques. Yet these illegal fishermen pay bribes to be left alone, and Kilapo and his workmates – local, small fish- ermen who purchase government licenses and respect catch quotas
38 Africa: Tanzania
– are harassed by corrupt “marine soldiers” and not protected by regional government entities. He complains about the lack of com- mitted and uncorrupt officers to prevent illegal fishing along the Tanzanian coast, and the inept- ness of the departments that deal with stubborn fishermen who use prohibited methods to catch fish. “The people who are villains
in nature have disguised them- selves as officers and make things tougher for us,” Kilapo says. He fears that the natural fisheries are being depleted and that legal fishermen like him and his friends will be put out of business soon. “It is only poor and small fisher- men who are suffering from that strange principle [which regulates fishing quotas] while in reality it is only applied to the downtrodden.” The agony of Kilapo the Fisherman is echoed by several other small fishermen, who also troll the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Fishing is no small business
in Tanzania. According to the Min- istry of Fisheries and Livestock Development, ocean fisheries con-
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