Even after their involvement in the fishing industry for all their lives, most villagers living adjacent to the Tanga city coastal waters are ignorant of laws governing fisheries.
They are in the dark as to what types of fishing gear require licensing and why they should meet the requirement at all.
What is even more baffling is the fact that some ward environmental committees are not fully conversant with the laws which guide them in their operations.
We have seen people who are said to come from fisheries department in our village, but what they are here for, we do not know, said Hassan Mwajasho, 68, a resident and environmental committee member of Mwarongo village, Tongoni Ward in the City.
We are aware that the government prohibits dynamite fishing. When we see fisheries officers in our village, we know that they are looking for people who engage in bombing, Mwajasho said.
Having noticed that a larger section of people whose lives depend on the sea were ignorant of marine laws, a non-governmental organization (NGO) Tanga Together Trust (TTT), a lobbying and advocacy group stepped in to educate the society on their rights and obligations.
After identifying the weakness with regard to marine law within the fishing society, particularly on the youth, we discovered that a large section of the fishing population lacked awareness on marine laws, says Aurelia Mtui, the project coordinator.
Youths are being used in illegal activities by well-off individuals. We therefore decided that as a civil society group, we were obliged to remove the darkness surrounding the society through awareness seminars, says Aurelia.
ippmedia.com