Background:
There are many ongoing anthropogenic activities threatening the sustainable use of marine biodiversity, improve food safety & security as well as providing protections and preservations of the Indian ocean environment and its diverse resources.
Some of these challenges are as highlighted below:
- Dynamite fishing which is also called blast fishing is a major issue affecting the Indian Ocean in Africa. The coasts of the Eastern part of Africa is blessed with extensive network of coral reefs whose biodiversity and beauty supports major artisanal fishing and tourism industries in the East-African countries like Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Mauritius, Comoros islands, Madagascar and South Africa among others. Unfortunately, due to the fact that explosives are cheap and easily accessible to fishers/fishermen in some of these East and South Eastern-African countries the fisher men in the region use them for fishing purposes. The explosives are used for blasting to kill fish inside the Indian Ocean territories in order to catch more fish at once or in one outing. A blast can lead to a catch of up to 400 kg of fish and a profit of US$1,800 in market sales, a lucrative short-term profit despite the long-term destruction left behind.
These Dynamites/Bombs or Explosives are usually sourced from mining, demolition, and
road construction enterprises for these blast fishing sometimes they are even made at home
locally such as the Bottle bombs made with kerosene and fertilizer and diesel.
A single blast in blast fishing can kill hundreds of fish in seconds, destroys large numbers of fish and other marine animals and their nearby habitats and yet indirectly also kills and damage many of the coral reefs around which supports rich array of marine animals of the Indian ocean
- Many of the Indian Ocean coastal cities/towns in the eastern part of Africa bordering the Indian ocean such as Mogadishu, Port Louis, Kisi-mayo, Mombasa, Dares Salam, Victoria, Pemba, Zanzibar, Toamasina, Beira and to some extent even Maputo, Durban, Port Elizabeth in South Africa keeps generating local wastes that are mostly ending up in the Indian oceans as their final destinations.
- Piracy is another addition to the issues affecting livelihood and economic activities in the Indian Ocean. Piracy in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to Somali Civil War in the early 21st century to an extent that it impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping expenses, costing an estimated $6.6 to $6.9 billion a year in global trade in 2011 according to Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP).
RECOMMENDATION
- Organizations like the IMO should assist with her technical know-how on how to educate the managements of the various Sea Ports in Africa, especially on how to be degreasing the Quay Aprons of the Sea Ports in Africa without necessarily causing Pollution of the Ocean.
- The use of modern satellite technology in fighting piracy through using Space Technologies such as Automatic Identification System (AIS) (an automatic tracking ships, AIS base stations, and satellites) can be very useful in this regard.