Society

Cameroon Tribune has sounded a note of caution to the CPDM government calling for an increase in maritime security on our waterways. The national daily in an editorial scripted by Nkemden Forbinake, the paper revealed that a strange fishing vessel has since last Wednesday been shored up in the Douala harbour after being impounded by the Cameroonian navy as it was carrying out illegal fishing activity within Cameroonian territorial waters off the coast of Limbe in the South-West Region. What is particularly interesting about the fishing vessel is the impressive quantity of fish found on board.

Initially determined by customs officials to be some tens of tons, officials of the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries in Douala, after verification of the vessel at the harbor, are rather talking of a much more impressive quantity which further betrays the impunity with which fishing boats come into the rich waters of our nation’s south-western coasts to fish. In effect, the captured vessel was about three nautical miles from the authorized line; so right into Cameroonian territory! This is just one case, certainly among many who do business right into our waters and get off scot-free with their huge catches. Cameroon is currently facing numerous security challenges with the Boko Haram insurgency in the Far-North Region of the country being the main theatre of operations to keep the national territory safe from the sporadic attempts of this heartless sect. This can partly explain the absence of the kind of security presence necessary to keep poachers at bay.

But there is more to that than meets the eye. This kind of fishing is not an exclusively Cameroonian phenomenon. But investing in security in our high seas is a matter of urgency if the animal protein needs of the citizens have to be met. For example, national demand for fish today is at about 400 000 tons while national production is staggering at about 182 000 tons with 180 000 coming from captured fishing or, simply put, fish harvested in the high seas off our coasts while a meager 2 000 tons come from ponds or fish harvested from internal waterways. The situation will be difficult to reverse without revolutionary measures. Fishing off our coasts in the high seas is done with such sophistication that available control measures can hardly stop. The illegal vessels, in their rush to fish-and-go, harvest just about every available fish even right up to fingerlings, therefore breaking the ordinary life cycle which obviously cleanses entire areas of fish.

So, the danger is not just about reducing available quantities of fish, but also exterminating even the small fish that could guarantee fish availability for the future. In this situation, one would have rightfully imagined that a solution could come from inland fishing; but the ridiculous production figure of 2 000 tons is rather a laughing matter in the wake of the whopping national demand for fish of about 400 000 tons! Assorted initiatives by the Ministry responsible for fishing to get Cameroonians more involved, at least in the less onerous inland fishing activity, have never yielded the expected results; otherwise production will not be that low. Even the 2 000 tons are the efforts, in the most part, of foreigners. Foreigners from as far afield as Ghana or Mali are the main actors of the peripheral fishing activity on such inland waterways as the Sanaga around Monatele or the Benue at Lagdo.

While government considers more proactive initiatives and even some stimulating measures, we must welcome the construction of the Limbe fishing academy as an important window of opportunity which can reverse present trends and help develop new interest in fishing activity around the country. At the same time, government must consider partnering with other neighbouring countries as well as regional organizations in the likes of the Gulf of Guinea Commission to set up security outfits that can properly check the regular forays into our coasts by foreign fishermen

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Oct.2015

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Celebration of the 35th edition of the World Food Day has been rescheduled for a later date following the national Day of mourning in remembrance of the 76 compatriots who left for Pilgrimage to Mecca and never returned. In preparation to celebrations, Cameroon’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Henri Eyebe Ayissi organized a press briefing at his cabinet. A number of Ministers and representatives of International Organizations were present to get updated information on government’s policy to ensure food sufficiency.

The current edition to be celebrated on a later date will be organized under the theme “Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Silence of poverty.” Discussing social protection, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Henri Eyebe Ayissi laid emphasis on government’s resolve to pay all benefits due retired workers whether dead or alive and the invalids. He added that a First Aid committee to monitor the populations’ health on HIV AIDS, Malaria, and status of the ageing has been put in place. On agriculture the Minister mentioned a number of measures put in place to increase productivity; this includes the construction of farm to market roads. He however argued that World Food Day is also about education and creating employment for jobless Cameroonians especially in rural areas taking into consideration the aspect of social protection as highlihted in this year\'s theme. 

Apart of the funding from the afore mentioned, measures are expected to be raised from the forth coming tele-food gala night scheduled for December 2015 in Yaounde. Statistics from the food and agricultural Organization FAO state that close to 795million people in the world suffer from hunger and mal-nutrition with 2.3 million in Cameroon. The 35th celebration coincides with the 70th anniversary of the Food and Agricultural Organization.

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Ngwa Bertrand

17.Oct.2015

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Cameroon Special Forces reportedly chased three suspected suicide bombers from Maroua deep inside Nigerian territory on Thursday, October 15, 2015. The elements of the Cameroon elite force known as BIR launched the major operation to hunt the three suspected suicide bombers following intelligence gotten from local non state policing groups. 

The army ordered the markets and schools in the city of Maroua to be closed and students were told to return to their respective homes. Over the last three months, the Far North region has witnessed numerous suicide attacks. Areas such as Maroua, Fotokol, Kerawa, Mora, Kangaleri, have repeatedly been targeted by suicide bombers attributed to Boko Haram.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Oct.2015

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Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi was involved in a car accident on Thursday, October 15, 2015. The vehicle transporting the minister accompanied by his bodyguard was hit by a trailer. Local media report say the incident occurred at Olembé- an area at the northern exit of Yaounde. Henri Eyebe Ayissi was appointed on the 2nd of October 2015 as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. 

He had served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from September 7, 2007-2015), Inspector General in charge of elections in the Ministry of Territorial Administration from 2004-2007, Inspector General at the Ministry of Higher Education from 1998-2004 and Minister of Urban Development and Housing from September 7, 1990 to November 27, 1992.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Oct.2015

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Cameroon Special Forces reportedly chased three suspected suicide bombers from Maroua deep inside Nigerian territory on Thursday, October 15, 2015. The elements of the Cameroon elite force known as BIR launched the major operation to hunt the three suspected suicide bombers following intelligence gotten from local non state policing groups. 

The army ordered the markets and schools in the city of Maroua to be closed and students were told to return to their respective homes. Over the last three months, the Far North region has witnessed numerous suicide attacks. Areas such as Maroua, Fotokol, Kerawa, Mora, Kangaleri, have repeatedly been targeted by suicide bombers attributed to Boko Haram.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Oct.2015

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Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi was involved in a car accident on Thursday, October 15, 2015. The vehicle transporting the minister accompanied by his bodyguard was hit by a trailer. Local media report say the incident occurred at Olembé- an area at the northern exit of Yaounde. Henri Eyebe Ayissi was appointed on the 2nd of October 2015 as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. 

He had served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from September 7, 2007-2015), Inspector General in charge of elections in the Ministry of Territorial Administration from 2004-2007, Inspector General at the Ministry of Higher Education from 1998-2004 and Minister of Urban Development and Housing from September 7, 1990 to November 27, 1992.

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Ngwa Bertrand

16.Oct.2015

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