Mozambique Small-Scale Fishers Lose Business as Prawn Catches Decline

A recent CCTV Africa report revealed that Mozambique’s once flourishing small-scale fishing community is suffering because of invasive species of fish, a growing population and an economic downturn, which is not favorable for the small-scale fishing industry.

“We don’t get Prawns like we used to,” Christina Julius Mabuza, a Prawn trader told CCTV Africa. “Fish also isn’t what it used to be.”

According to the report, small-scale farmers say that these days, there aren’t enough Prawns to catch. Illegal commercial fishers have greatly contributed to the Prawn shortage and subsequent drop in fish exports.

Victor Manuel Borges, Minister for Fisheries in Mozambique, said in the report that the country began experiencing the decline in 2012. The IMF still expects economic growth to reach 8.3 percent in 2014.