Blue Voices in Dar: East Africa’s $415m illegal-fishing fight gets practical

Monday, 1st September 2025

By inAfrika Reporter

DAR ES SALAAM— A regional task for a regional problem. This morning’s Blue Voices Roundtable at the Hyatt Regency Kilimanjaro brings government officials, community leaders, researchers and innovators into one room (and Zoom) to hammer practical fixes for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU/IUUF) across East Africa’s waters. The half-day forum, convened by The Jahazi Project, is built around one number: $415 million—the estimated annual economic drain from illegal fishing across the region.

Panels will zero in on three levers: port controls, tech-driven surveillance, and community enforcement. On ports, countries are urged to tighten compliance with the FAO Port State Measures Agreement—denying harbour access to suspect vessels and choking off market entry for illicit catch. On surveillance, momentum is building for AIS/VMS tracking, satellite analytics and low-cost electronic observers to help thinly resourced coast guards cover vast seas. On community enforcement, pilot projects are linking beach management units with national taskforces, turning artisanal fishers into the eyes and ears of the state.

The stakes are immediate. Tanzania alone loses an estimated $142.8 million annually to illegal fishing, according to domestic analyses cited by organisers; Kenya’s illegal haul has been pegged at 30–40% of total catch in some studies. That translates into fewer legal landings, lower tax receipts, pressure on breeding stocks, and volatility in fish prices from Msasani to Likoni. The government’s broader Blue Economy agenda claims those losses can be sharply reduced by 2030 through tougher penalties, regional patrols and aquaculture expansion.

What will count as success? Attendees say two things within six months: (1) a shared vessel watchlist and rapid alert protocol among Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique and Seychelles, and (2) a port-inspection scorecard that publishes quarterly results—boarding rates, detentions, prosecutions. Donors prefer clear metrics; fishers prefer visible fairness at landing sites. Both can be true if countries move from communiqués to joint operations.

There’s also a reputational upside. Tourism operators from Mbudya to Pemba market pristine reefs and reliable seafood. Proving that East Africa is closing the net on illegal trawlers is a conservation story—and a brand story. Today’s roundtable won’t fix everything before lunch, but if it locks in interoperable data, port-state discipline and community buy-in, the region can finally convert decades of rhetoric into a working deterrence chain.