OVERVIEW 



African fisheries range from artisanal, canoe-based to those employing modern high-seas vessels equipped 

 with the latest in fisheries technology. Fishing grounds also vary, from the rich grounds off Mauritania to the 

 relatively nutrient -poor waters in the western Indian Ocean. The waters off Africa have attracted foreign fishermen 

 for many generations, especially from former colonial powers. Beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s, African 

 nation's gained independence and began excluding their former colonial owners from their national waters. This 

 process was accelerated in the 1970s as many nations around the world extended their Exclusive Economic Zones 

 (EEZ) to 200-miles. Some former colonial powers recognized the changes sweeping the continent and negotiated 

 bilateral fishery agreements in some of their former colonies. Some fishermen, however, continued to fish in 

 African waters, illegally entering their waters at night - or in daylight in some cases - anticipating that most 

 African countries did not have the enforcement capability to halt illegal fishing. Limited enforcement capabilities 

 remains an important limitation in most developing nations in Africa today. 



In 1977, The European Community (EC) began negotiating international fishery agreements with various 

 African states. The first agreements simply replaced existing bilateral agreements reached between EC member 

 states and their former colonies or they were agreements that previously existed. Agreements with Mauritania, 

 Guinea (Bissau) and Guinea (Conakry) and Senegal were among the first agreements negotiated in West Africa. The 

 most important agreement came in 1988 when the EC signed an agreement with Morocco allowing nearly 800 EC 

 vessels access to Morocco's territorial waters. The EC has gradually increased the number of international fishery 

 agreements to where, in 1993, a total of 19 agreements, valued at nearly $775 million, have been signed with 

 African and Indian Ocean countries. 1 



African states also negotiated bilateral fishery agreements with Japan, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea 

 in the 1970s and 1980s. Asian fishermen were especially attracted to tuna, billfish, cephalopodes, and whitefish 

 found in the eastern and southern Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Agreements were also reached with 

 Bulgarian, East German, Polish, Rumanian, and Soviet fishery authorities prior to the breakup of the USSR in the 

 1990s. 



African countries, by and large, have not become centers for reflagging. Liberia, however, is a major flag 

 of convenience country for martime vessels throughout the world. The authors have no information on the extent 

 of reflagging under the Liberian flag by fishing vessels. Today, many reflagged fishing vessels are operating out 

 of South African and/or Namibian ports. 



