Dispatches International
portant; they will be participating fully in government conservation activities.” Needless to say, in the same
manner of Ally Hussein, Godfrey Nyamsogoro, Mark Bobani, and Kilapo the Fisherman, Yohana Budeba is completely unhappy with the prominence and impu- nity of illegal fishermen in Tan- zania. He understands that the people fishing illegally are prob- ably desperately poor and would be fully law-abiding fishermen if they could afford a license. But he cannot condone, and indeed must fully condemn, anybody who de- pletes the fisheries along the Tan- zanian coast. Budeba explains that the
destruction of fisheries reduces eco-tourism to Tanzania, and says that it hurts the national economy. Other countries suffer as a result of illegal fishing, too, he believes, and only a few greedy individu- als benefit. Budeba claims that the people who steal fish from the oceans are stealing food from the people, thereby depriving their countrymen of much-needed pro- tein and other nutrients. “We have to be firm against
illegal fishing,” asserts Budeba. “It will have disadvantages, many more disadvantages than advan- tages, if we let it continue.” Taking a broad look at the
situation of small-scale fisher- men and their destructive illegal counterparts in Tanzania reveals that there is a common voice de- manding law enforcement and a
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common will to ensure that fish- ing activities throughout the coun- try are sustainable and profitable. Even the poorest, simplest, small- est fishermen in Tanzania – repre- sented by men like Kilapo – seem to share goals with the highest- ranking researchers and policy- influencers like Yohana Budeba. Nobody seems to blame the
illegal fishermen, because there is a consensus that they are act- ing out of desperation. Everybody seems to be calling on the govern- ment to make positive change in the near future. “It is bad to see there are
government entities that look after marine safety but forget about the existence of small-scale fishermen. We are supposed to be considered from the initial point of enforcing policy to the final port of enforc- ing policy,” says Kilapo. “After the government brings to us things which they call laws, and want us to act accordingly, but then they don’t want to look at the overall situation in which we are operat- ing as fishermen.” With that said, Kilapo the
Fisherman acknowledges that he does not know every fisherman in Tanzania, but he can speak on behalf of those who live on the oceans, pulling fish from the sea to feed Tanzanians. “What kills us, we small time fishermen, is the absence of a strong force to lift up the lives of fishers.”
Email Abraham Makinda
abraham.makinda@
dispatchesinternational.org
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