Nigeria has partnered with Norway to deploy satellite surveillance for tracking illegal fishing activities in its waters.
The partnership was announced on Monday when the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola, received Norway’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Svein Baera, in Abuja.
Ambassador Baera said the visit was to introduce the Blue Justice initiative, a Norwegian programme that provides participating countries with free satellite-based Automatic Identification System, AIS, vessel-tracking data through the Blue Justice Ocean Surveillance Programme.
He invited Nigeria to join the Blue Community, a network of countries in the initiative, to strengthen its capacity to detect suspicious vessel movements and identify so-called “dark vessels” that evade tracking.
According to Baera, the programme will provide Nigeria with both real-time and historical tracking data to monitor maritime activities, investigate suspicious movements and tackle Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated, IUU, fishing and other maritime crimes.
Responding, Oyetola commended the Norwegian Government for the initiative and its longstanding collaboration with Nigeria, assuring that the country will participate in the programme.
The Minister expressed concern that foreign trawlers were illegally harvesting fish from Nigeria’s waters, only to bring the products back into the country and sell them at high prices.
“It is unacceptable that fish harvested from our waters through illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing are brought back into Nigeria and sold to our people at exorbitant prices,” Oyetola said.
He said the satellite data will help authorities identify suspected offenders, strengthen enforcement and protect the livelihoods of local fishermen, while supporting efforts to boost domestic fish production and reduce import dependence.
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