Satellite Surveillance: Nigeria, Norway Partner to Combat Illegal Fishing

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Email

Comments

• As Oyetola assures of Nigeria’s participation in Blue Justice initiative
• Pledges tougher action against illegal fishing

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has expressed its readiness to partner with Norway on satellite surveillance of the country’s waters to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and protect the its marine resources from exploitation.

The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola gave the assurance on Monday when he received Norway’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Svein Baera, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.

The Ambassador was accompanied by the Second Secretary (Political and Project Development), Ms. Michelle Hovi.

Ambassador Baera said the visit was to introduce the Blue Justice initiative, which 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 participating in the initiative, to strengthen its capacity to detect suspicious vessel movements, identify so-called “dark vessels” that evade tracking, and tackle illegal fishing and other maritime crimes.

The Ambassador explained that the programme would provide Nigeria with both real-time and historical vessel-tracking data, enabling relevant authorities to monitor maritime activities, investigate suspicious movements and identify patterns associated with illegal fishing