The Tanzanian Fisheries Sector - Challenges and Opportunities (THREAD).

Summary from a baseline study of the Tanzanian fisheries resources, conducted in 2016.

#Tanzania has a coastline of 1,424 km, and the Exclusive Economic Zone has an area of 223,000 km2. The country has maritime borders with #Kenya, #Comoros, #Seychelles and #Mozambique. Tanzania is well endowed with inland waters and lakes, with a total area of 64,500 km2.

#Tanzania is endowed with rich marine and inland waters that yield a wide range of living aquatic resources, providing livelihoods, #foodsecurity, export revenues, and potential for further economic development.

Over the last decade, #Tanzania’s fisheries production has been in the range of 325,000 to 380,000 tonnes per annum. Fish consumption is estimated to be about 7-8 kg/year. This level of per capita consumption is low, compared to the global per capita of about 20 kg in 2014.

In 2014, there were some 183,800 persons engaged in #fishing, accounting for about 0.7% of the workforce, with a large, but unknown number, also engaged in fish trading and processing.

In #Tanzania, Between 2000 and 2014 the number of vessels in the inland fisheries almost doubled, from
25,014 to 49,627.

Very few #Tanzania vessels exploit the full extent of the EEZ, and there appears to be some potential for development in this area. 74 vessels were licenced in 2014, of which 25 were for purse seiners which came from Spain, (14), France, (2) Seychelles (7) and South Korea (2).

Tanzania is both an importer and an exporter of fishery products. Exports were 43,354 tonnes in 2014, valued at US$188 million, and were mainly in the form of Nile perch fillets to international markets and dried Dagaa to regional markets.