Barely 10 days after the flag off of Exercise EJA EXPRESSION, Western Naval Command (WNC) of Nigerian Navy arrested 2 ships involved in Illegal Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing.
The two fishing trawlers; TAURARO and STARSHRIMPER 29, were apprehended with large quantities of fishes despite only having a license for shrimps only.
“The Nigerian Navy Ship EKULU at about 0400 on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 while on patrol along the Badagary axis of Lagos intercepted and interrogated two suspicious fishing trawlers TAURARO and STARSHRIMPER 29. The vessels were subsequently boarded and confirmed to have large quantities of fish onboard in spite of their license to shrimp only,” the WNC Navy stated in a press statement disseminated today (Friday) by the Command Information Officer, Commander Patricia Ochei.
Recall that the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) WNC, Rear Admiral Mustapha Bala Hassan recently flagged off Exercise EJA EXPRESSION which aims at horning personnel skills on how to curb economic crimes such as illegal fishing in our waters.
The exercise was to practice personnel procedure and processes of enforcing fisheries laws in Nigeria’s maritime environment to ensure the fleet better able to perform the responsibility of deterring IUU fishing and other illegalities.
According to the WNC Naval boss, the exercise is in line with the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla’s strategic directive towards, promoting effective ocean and maritime governance for a thriving Blue Economy.
With the blue economy in mind, Rear Admiral Hassan said that the Command and indeed the Navy has zero tolerance for any form of illegality at sea and calls on perpetrators to desist from such acts.
IUU fishing, which is estimated to cost Nigeria $2billion annual losses, is a global problem that threatens ocean ecosystem and sustainable fishing.
The illicit operations also threaten the nation’s economic security and natural resources that are critical to global food security, while also putting legitimate businesses at risk.