NAN-AE-3
Poaching
By Uche Eletuo
Lagos, Nov. 5, 2016 (NAN) Mr Azeez Balogun, a manager with a fishing company in Lagos, has called on the Federal Government to broaden its surveillance at the Gulf of Guinea to circumvent the activities of fish poachers.
Balogun made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.
He explained that permitting the constant poaching of fish in Nigeria waters by foreign trawlers was national neglect.
He urged the government to broaden its surveillance to cover the Gulf of Guinea.
The manager said that Nigeria would gain revenue, if the unofficial fishing firms were co-opted into the system.
“Nigeria’s Tiger Shrimps is the best in the world and in high demand in Western countries.
“This specie is found in large quantities in the Gulf of Guinea where Nigeria shares littoral boundaries with other nations.
“It is this situation that fish poachers are cashing in on to deprive Nigeria of the much-needed revenue,’’ Balogun said.
According to him, the attraction of the poachers to Nigerian waters is the coveted tiger shrimps.
The manager said a whole lot of revenue could be generated from the sector going by the quantum of fish that was extracted from the Nigerian waters daily.
He added that the country needed the courage to ward off poachers from the waters to make room for registered companies in Nigeria, who were paying tax.
“They should be co-opted into the system so that they pay royalties to Nigeria.
“The government should be seen to be protecting its own instead of exposing us to the undue unhealthy competition out there,’’ Balogun said. (NAN)
EUC/COF/AFA
Edited by Oluyinka Fadare/Felix Ajide
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