Maritime industry in West Africa could in the years to come create 300,000 jobs and generate $3.3 billion of revenues against $400 million presently. This was revealed in a report from Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Spanish Investigation Journalism Organization porCausa.

Entitled West Africa’s missing fish, the report states that to achieve this goal, West African governments must reduce illegal non-declared and non-regulated (INN) fishing and invest in the sector. INN fishing cost a nation like Senegal $300 million in 2012, which is 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP). Between a third and half of Africa's total catches falls to the practice, reveals the report which adds that Senegal and Nigeria had more than half of their stocks overexploited.

According to Alfonso Daniels who produced the report, “the scale of the losses is enormous. Instead of jobs and development, the livelihoods of artisanal fishers are being decimated by foreign fishing fleets, which operate virtually unchecked”. The document also highlights that if investment in fish processing grew and West African governments would improve their awareness about the issue, their populations would eat better food.

Aaron Akinocho