Page 10 - Somalia Report
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and 60,000 part-time workers in the form of traders, processors, and gear and vessel manufacturers.
Stimulate a vibrant economic sector, with particular focus on agriculture, livestock and fishing – we
hope to achieve a stable growth of 3 -5 per cent annually.
The NDP purposes to increase by 2 per cent, the revenue in fisheries collection by 2019 (FGS, 2017).
The upshot will be increased employment opportunities and knock on effects such as efforts to reduce
post-harvest losses and improve distribution support facilities.
Country Profile
Marine resources
Several marine features characterize Somalia as a large fisheries resource country. The 3,000 km
The Republic of Somalia
long coastline, the narrow continental shelf of between 6-30 km with areas between Ras Asir and Ras
Mabber widening to 60 km; and the northeast upwelling generated by the south-west monsoon all
combine to create a favourable and productive fisheries (FGS, 2017).
Fishing activity is categorised into the industrial and the local artisanal sector. The former targets the
migratory tuna species by national deep water vessels and foreign vessels. The latter, largely carried
out within 12 to 15 nm from the coast, is mainly in-shore fishing using small motorized and non-
motorized fishing boats.
However, there is a dearth of accurate and up-to-date fish catch and landing data which threatens
the sustainable management and development of the sector as a whole. Although the current state of
the stocks are unknown, and catch reports are unreliable, it is estimated that by 1987, the volumes of
tuna and tuna-like species alone was between 120 and 200 metric tons. Between 1997 and 2006,
the volumes of artisanal fish caught was about 32,000 metric tons valued at about US $45 million
(FGS, 2017). Recent data shows that in 2016, the volume of fish catch landed for all commercial,
industrial, recreational and subsistence purposes was 30,000 metric tons (World Bank, 2019). It is
difficult to plan for sustainability against such an information
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