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By JEREMIAH WAKAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, November 28 – Canada has committed more than $ 20 million to re-energized global efforts to eliminate IUU fishing.
Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced Wednesday that this commitment provides $ 10 million in funding for the development of satellite technologies to identify suspected illegal fishing vehicles.
Canada, which co-hosted the Conference on the Blue Sustainable Economy with Kenya and Japan after funding the three-day event that started on Monday at 300 million shillings, also announced the creation of a $ 1.6 million fund to support intelligence sharing with the countries of the ocean.
"We will focus on creating stronger public-private partnerships to fight IUU fishing. Currently, we are investing $ 10 million to support the development and deployment of satellite technologies to identify and track IUU-suspected vehicles, "he said at the closing session of the Conference on the Economy. blue.
"We are working with other countries to share regional fisheries information and we are committing up to $ 1.6 million for the Western and Central Pacific countries to share information and develop tools that will allow them to share information. to eliminate IUU vessels in their waters, "he added.
Wilkinson said Canada has set aside $ 9.5 million to help build scientific capacity in ocean research.
The funding, he said, will facilitate the formulation of focused policies and the enhancement of efficiency and sustainability in the sector of the ocean economy.
"This funding will strengthen scientific capabilities in oceanographic research and observation, and we are committed to playing a leading role in the development of a data sharing platform and practices." sustainable fisheries management, "Wilkinson announced.
Canada's commitments are part of more than 62 commitments made at the Blue Economy Conference, which brought together more than 16,380 participants from 183 countries at the Kenyatta International Convention Center at the inaugural conference on the global economy. global ocean economy.
A total of 64 side events, including 54 at KICC, took place on the sidelines of the conference and featured seven heads of state and government and 84 ministers.
Four parallel events were held at the University of Nairobi, including six in hotels in the city.
The marine sector led the number of commitments made on Wednesday afternoon – at nine o'clock – followed by the plastics sector, which had eight businesses.
There were nine commitments in funding and ours in the fishing sector.
In her remarks at the closing session, Foreign Secretary Monica Juma highlighted the progress made at the conference, saying that this pledge would go a long way towards recalibrating the marine ecosystem and preventing the development of the marine environment. Extinction of endangered species.
"If we do not take money measures, we risk condemning humanity and that is why we are delighted to have convened all stakeholders to discuss these issues," she said.
"We hope that Nairobi will start building the bloc for a global consensus on actions to save humanity in the future," the SC noted.
Juma pointed out that Kenya is already addressing some of the main concerns, including the proliferation of plastics by banning single-use plastics and encouraging recycling.
She said that the application of the ban in August last year after a six-month notice issued in February 2017 had significantly reduced the amount of plastic waste in the environment.
At a side event on climate change on Tuesday, Kisumu Governor Anyang 'Nyong'o proposed extending the ban on single-use plastic bottles against plastic bottles in order to consolidate progress made to date. now.
Nyong'o said the total ban on the use of plastic would ensure the protection of the environment from the harmful effects of non-degradable pollutants, while creating countless opportunities for industries producing transport bags and degradable containers.
"We can ban the use of plastic bags and bottles and give another sector the opportunity to fill the void created," said Nyong'o.
The use of plastic bags and containers has become a major existential threat to the fishing industry. The latest estimates from the United Nations Environment Program show that more than eight million tons of plastic are discarded each year in the ocean.
Projections also indicate that the amount of microplastics – nylon, polystyrene and polyethylene – will be released annually into the ocean at 230,000 metric tons, an average of 13,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer of ocean, which constitutes an additional danger for the fish.
The amount of plastic waste in the ocean is expected to increase tenfold by 2020, exceeding the number of fish by 2050.
Plastic microparticles can be absorbed into the flesh of fish, making seafood unfit for human consumption.
Plastic microparticles are particularly harmful because some of them may contain heavy metals.
In July 2017, leading scientists in France and Malaysia projected the annual consumption of microplastics from seafood in Europe at 11,000.
In the report published in Scientific Reports, a scientific journal of an international scientific publisher, Nature Research, scientists have listed 36 microplastics in 120 fish samples.
According to the United Nations, more than three billion people depend on marine and coastal resources to live.
In addition to plastic pollution, this vital resource faces other hazards, including the over-exploitation of at least 30% of the world's fish stocks. The global agency has also reported a 26% increase in ocean acidification since the industrial revolution.
According to the United Nations, the ocean also absorbs about thirty percent of the carbon dioxide produced by humans.
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