By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA—THE Federal Government is incurring 2.1 million metric tonnes deficit annually, following massive fish imports from Europe and Asia.

Minister of State, Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, disclosed this at the 9th Fisheries Committee of West Central Gulf of Guinea, FCWC, in Monrovia, Liberia.

He said Nigeria had resolved to properly regulate fishing activities by pursuing greater inter-agency collaboration among the Nigeria Navy, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, the Nigerian Custom Services, NCS, Nigerian Ports Authority, and Marine Police.

Buhari

According to him, from 2017, all fishing vessels in the country will be under the control of Vessel Monitoring System, VMS, and Automatic Identification System, AIS, while fishing vessels above 100 Gross Tonnage, GRT, will have International Maritime Organisation numbers.

According to him, government has also started the process of ratification of the Port State Measures Agreement, PSMA, and will soon join other countries to ratify the instrument.

He said: ‘’It is my honour and privilege to share with you the aspirations and goals of President Muhammadu Buhari in promoting increased fish production as one of the key objectives of achieving food security and unlocking the potentials of our agricultural sector.

“Besides, the deficit in the annual demand for fish in Nigeria being 2.1 million metric tonnes, the bulk of fish import into Nigeria is from Europe and Asia.”

‘’This is inimical to our socio-economic interest as a region and must be reversed so that we can trade in fish among ourselves for the good of our people.