CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Aur. Limbion, Congo-Brazza, March 1999
THEME = ECONOMY
The international market for maritime fishing has recently been
the subject of revised
health regulations. This means that Congo-Brazza's experts in the fishing industry
intend to set up a national system for controlling the quality of fish and fish products
The following statement by a Malian fisherman illustrates perfectly the anxiety felt by many Congolese maritime fishermen. He puts it this way: «Pressure on us from our own people, pressure from outside...we'll never get out of our present difficulties. The cost of equipping ourselves properly for our work is becoming more and more expensive. But even if we ignore this factor, rules and regulations in our industry are getting increasingly severe. Now they're saying we've got to be more hygienic in the way we preserve our catches. Our present equipment can't possibly satisfy all these new regulations».
So, what's happening? Health regulations governing the international commerce of fish and fish products are undergoing a radical transformation. These edicts are known in the industry as «Health Barriers», in that, well-defined rules and health regulations must be kept to, if the fish are to be sold on the international market and more precisely, on the European market.
The revised health regulations stem from the 6th Session of the Sub-Committee for the International Fishing Industry, held at Bremen, Germany, 3-6 July 1998. Moreover, the EU has issued its own directive 91/492/CEE, dated 22 July 1991, establishing appropriate health regulations governing the sale of fish and fish products on the European market. This means there's no future for Congo- Brazza's maritime fishermen, as their fleets are not equipped with high-performance equipment allowing them to satisfactorily breach what can be called «the European Health Barrier»; in other words, to sell their catches within Europe.
Brazzaville is awaiting the arrival of a quality control mission made up of international experts, who, depending on the results of their inquiries, will either authorise or forbid Congolese fishermen to export their products to the international market.
With this as background, a special course on «guaranteeing the quality of fish and fish products» was held in Pointe-Noire, from 1-8 October 1998. The course was held under the auspices of both national and international experts in this field and participants included amateur and professional fishermen.
The meeting was a sort of prelude to the setting-up of a national control system for ensuring the quality of the catch and of fish products. The system will have as its aims, to:
In order to achieve these aims, those responsible for running this system will have to:
If Congo's fishing industry is to have any future, much will depend on the success of the control system. For ages now, consumers' associations have been condemning the way in which fish and fish products are processed for release onto the general market. An expert in the field puts it this way: «Our country's honour must be safeguarded, and one way of doing this is to ensure that what we send abroad represents our country worthily. This applies to Congo's fishing industry. The way in which we prepare our products for sale abroad must be an example for all. There should be no need to have such issues as hygiene forced down our throats from outside!»
Congo-Brazza imports a lot of fish for home consumption but also exports fish, especially shrimps. Congo's fishing fleet comprises 26 boats (six shrimping boats, ten trawlers and ten sardine fishing boats, also suitable for catching shrimps). Congo- Brazza is a member of the Regional Committee of the Gulf of Guinea Fishing Industry (COREP) which includes Gabon, Congo RDC and Sao Tomé e Principe.
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