FG moves to end Illegal Fishing, Assures Stakeholders on Marine Sustainability

The federal government has warned against illegal fishing activities in the country’s waters assuring stakeholders of ensuring sustainability of aquaculture.

The Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola, has expressed concern over the growing menace of Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, vowing that Nigeria will work with regional and international partners to curb the practice.

The Minister made this known on Monday, 1st September 2025, when he received the Chairman and the Secretary-General of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC), who were on a working visit to his office in Abuja.

Oyetola described IUU fishing as a grave violation of both national and international laws, noting that such activities are either unreported to authorities or conducted in ways that undermine established conservation and management measures for fish stocks.

He stressed that IUU fishing “significantly threatens marine ecosystems and biodiversity, jeopardises sustainable fisheries, and creates unfair competition for law-abiding fishers.”

The highpoint of the visit was the signing of two landmark instruments by Minister Oyetola: the Monrovia Declaration on Ensuring the Implementation of Conservation and Management Measures (CMM), Increased Governance and Transparency in the FCWC Region, and the Protocol on Labour Standards for Crew and the Elimination of Forced Labour on Fishing Vessels in the FCWC Region.

The Monrovia Declaration seeks to strengthen the implementation of agreed conservation and management measures, enhance governance structures, and pro- mote transparency across the fisheries sector within the Gulf of Guinea. It aims to ensure that regional commitments translate into concrete actions for sustainable resource management.