Guinea-Bissau to crack down on illegal fishing

The small west African country of Guinea-Bissau plans to crack down on foreign fishing boats that use its waters illegally because they are so rich in fish, the fisheries minister said on Friday.

"We're going to step up our checks by using our national navy," Carlos Mussa Balde said in a telephone interview after the seizure in recent weeks of two vessels from South Korea as well as many from neighbouring Senegal.

"Every vessel seized in our waters for illicit activity will have its haul confiscated and we will apply a severe fine on the boats' owners without half measures," Balde said.

The owners of the two South Korean ships will each be fined 200,000 dollars (133,000 euros), while the owners of 80 Senegalese fishing boats will between them have to pay a fine of 30 million CFA francs (about 46,000 euros/69,000 dollars).

"Between September and today, we've arrested about 1,000 clandestine fisherman come from all over the sub-region. Among them are 450 Senegalese. We're going to very tough with those who loot out fish stocks," Balde said.

Fishermen from Senegal and Guinea regularly enter Guinea-Bissau's waters and swiftly cast their nets in the hope of a quick and good haul, but the country has a fisheries accord with the European Union, which pays 7.5 million euros a year for the right legally to fish in its zone.

The EU has urged Guinea-Bissau to be more vigilant in its measures against South Korean and Chinese fishing vessels which enter its zone.