afrol News / A Semana, 23 September - Cape Verde and Angola are jointly to explore tuna fishing possibilities on the west coast of Africa and in the exclusive economic zones of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe. In this sense, a corporation is in the process of being created involving an Angolan company, private Cape Verdean enterprises and the Cape Verdean state.

The social capital of this joint venture will be euro 5 million, with the Angolan partners expected to contribute with approximately euro 2 million. The partners will also seek out external financing, particularly from African financial institutions, for the purchase of vessels. If all goes according to plans, the corporation should begin operating in December.

The corporation programme calls for a fleet of 10 tuna fishing vessels that will operate in the waters of Cape Verde, Senegal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola, according to José Lopes of Cape Verde's National Fishing Development Institute, who is elaborating the project's viability study.

- The operationality of the embarkations will take into account the productivity of the Exclusive Economic Zones, explains Mr Lopes. "If there is a period during which there is an abundance of tuna in this exclusive economic zone, there will be no reason eight or ten vessels cannot operate in the same zone at the same time," he adds.

In terms of the industrialisation of catches, the company plans to take advantage of the Angolan market's capacity to absorb the product, according to the Cape Verdean institute.

Both Cape Verde and Angola have vast fisheries resources that are mostly sold to foreign interests, in particular the European Union (EU). The governments in Praia and Luanda however plan to make the fisheries a more important indigenous sector in the near future.

By A Semana staff writer

© afrol News / A Semana

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories