Mozambican coastline threatened by lack of law enforcement, climate change
As first appeared in Prestigio Magazine in Mozambique, here. Written by Refinaldo Chilengue.
January 5 2023
Fisherman struggling to make ends meet criticise commercial trawling boats
Unprecedented tidal waves destroyed swathes of coastline and settlements in September 2022.
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mage by Dimitry B.
Weaknesses in the surveillance and protection of the Mozambican coastline jeopardise the ecosystem and natural beauty along the approximately 2,770 kilometres of pristine coastline. Although there are exceptions, namely Maputo National Park and Gorongosa National Park in Sofala, coastal ecosystems are being degraded, threatening wildlife and livelihoods.
The changes are so evident that nowadays the expression “climate change” is common in the mouth of the everyday citizen of Mozambique and there are many who call for an increased effort from the authorities to avoid the worst.
António Jamisse Mazivila, 73 years old and second-ranking community leader in the coastal and fishing region of Závora, is moved when referring to the tragedy that occurred in September 2022, when giant waves plagued the local beach, destroying more than 30 artisanal fishing vessels, which is approximately 75% of the boats in the area.
“Since then, there are dozens of families that have been deprived of their livelihood, but we are all aware that that phenomenon is associated with climate change and that is why we are insisting on the need for increased measures for the protection and conservation of the ecosystem among residents,” said Mazivila.
Among these efforts, Mazivila says that he is making mass appeals to avoid forest degradation and has already asked the relevant authorities for casuarina seedlings and other types of trees to be planted not only along the coast, but also in areas that have already been deforested, “even knowing that this is not enough”.
“The bulk of our misfortune comes from the high seas, where there is no control. The action of our fishermen has little negative impact. The ones that most devastate our resources are the giant trawlers of foreigners that operate in the high seas, without any control,” he added.
Canadian biologist and member of the Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF), Nakia Cullain, settled in Závora Bay in 2016, to continue monitoring the evolution of marine species in that region paints a desolate picture.
Cullain says when he arrived in Závora Bay, it was easy to spot between 20 and 30 sharks when doing the usual dives. Today, however, seeing two sharks in the same area leaves divers satisfied, even during peak seasons. The same can be said of manta rays, skates, and turtles, to name the most emblematic cases.
Cullain echoes Chief Mazivila's remarks and believes that licensed foreign vessels operating on the high seas are not inspected and no one can say with certainty what they actually do, reiterating the urgent need to reinforce the human and material capacity of the coastal protection forces for real surveillance and protection of the coast of Mozambique.
Mazivila and Cullain's alarm about the lack of coastal protection is joined by the voice of a senior officer from the Mozambican navy, who, on condition of anonymity, confirms that “in effect, the Mozambican coastline is wide open.”
The military official recalls that when he returned from military training in the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1983, Mozambique had seven ships and three speedboats.
“Today we don't have a single warship and we only have a few speedboats and patrol boats, some of them obsolete and / or without full operational capacity,” he said.
He further noted that taking into account the vastness of the coast and the riches it hosts, Mozambique needs, at the very least, a naval fleet that includes a modern aircraft carrier, a dozen ships, a dozen speedboats, these means supported by an air force at the height.
Nakia Cullain returns to the charge and comments that the picture becomes even more alarming when it is known that a plan to implement the exploitation of heavy sands in the Inharrime region is under way.
“This will implicate and negatively affect communities – movement of people – and the ecosystem – disposal of waste to the sea coast,”
The Canadian biologist explains the consequences of the accelerated extinction of marine species that are being witnessed in the area: “The shark feeds on very large fish, and these on medium-sized fish, and so on. And when the sharks are rare, the big fish that eat the medium ones abound. Now watch the resulting cascading effect… and take a deep breath.”
Isaías Nhabanga, 56, and Eugênio Guambe, 52, are two artisanal fishermen from Inharrime who interpret this scientific explanation in their daily practices and, frustrated, tell us that there are many when they return home with little fish for consumption and sale, only obtaining meagre earnings for family subsistence.
When we asked them about how they face the closed periods, the two fishermen looked at each other and asked us what a “closed period” was. After a succinct explanation, they retorted that they had never heard of any period of prohibition in the more than 30 years that they have been fishing for shellfish.
“We never interrupt our activity. We develop it all year without interruption.”
A bit embarrassed, Carola António Manuel, a waiter at a small restaurant located on the banks of the Inharrime River and very popular with tourists and truck drivers, says that she can only serve us “mbappe” fish, which comes from Inhassoro, in the north of Inhambane province, because it is no longer easy to find fish typical of the area, “which was once abundant”.
Izidro Mbanze, 45, is from the southern Mozambican province of Gaza and lives in the village of Barama, on the outskirts of Inhambane. As a sculptor and tourist guide, he knows and shares, in detail, the contours and consequences of deforestation, hunting and unrestrained fishing that is witnessed in some regions of southern Mozambique.
The tambeira, locally known as “ntsondzo”, is the most devastated tree species in the forests of northern Gaza and southern Inhambane and the eggs of turtles, seahorses and other types of marine species are most exploited in “any way” in the region.
“There is no control in the forests and coast of Mozambique. There is no human and material capacity for effective supervision and people exploit this anyway. There is wood here, but my son studies sitting on a bench, coming from China. Until recently, he studied sitting on the floor. We have a long and rich coastline, but like horse mackerel from Angola or Namibia, a lot of fish leaves our waters in an uncontrolled way, transhipped on the high seas by foreigners”, he vents, with immense details of how these operations take place.
Incidentally, the African Journal of Marine Science says in one of its 2021 editions that, unlike neighbouring South Africa, Mozambique has few records resulting from scientific research on its ecosystems, even so, the so-called “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” has been recognized as champion in efforts to protect marine biodiversity, as well as one of WWF 's 35 Priority Conservation Areas due to its important ecosystems, habitats and species such as whale sharks and manta rays worldwide.
Even more heartbreaking is the content of the March 2022 edition of Fish Biology a specialised publication consulted by Prestígio magazine, entitled “Evidence of Závora Bay as a critical site for reef manta rays, Mobula Alfredi, in southern Mozambique,” authored by six specialists from South Africa, Spain, Canada and the United States of America.
This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organisation Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.
