Somali waters are home to some of the richest fishing grounds in Africa, with vast potential for fisheries and coastal area development. However, the sector remains underdeveloped due to a lack of skills among fishermen to go deep into seawater, lack of modern tools (boats and fishing gears) and lack of organisation.
While for the first time in over two decades, offshore fishing licenses were issued, legally and transparently, by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) of the Federal Government of Somalia to foreign vessels for the exclusive exploitation of tuna and tuna-like species beyond 24 nautical miles from Somalia’s coast, outside of the zone reserved for Somali fishers, these remain among the poorest and most marginalized members of Somali society.
In collaboration with Federpesca, HOPE implements the third Somalia and Yemen Development Programme funded by the Indian Ocean Rim Association. The project focuses on the Empowerment of the fishing and fish value chain’s industries and cooperatives aiming to foster actions supporting the development of a “service-oriented Fisheries Employers Union” in each country, able to provide services, consultancy both at the environmental, social and economic level, and foster the commercial exchanges both at local and international level for the Somali and Yemeni fishermen.
HOPE aims to support the empowerment of the fishing and aquaculture industries and cooperatives.