Feb 18th 2012, 9:06 by J.L. | BERBERA
THIS week Baobab wrote about Africa's oceans to coincide with the upcoming World Oceans Summit in Singapore. Blue water presents a challenge to pan-Africanists. Ocean-related African Union initiatives are just talk. Only a few African countries have fisheries patrols, and even then, money and influence distract officials' attention. Many other things are unreported or unknown. Levels of pollution in the shallow Gulf of Guinea? The future effects of oil drilling, gas fields, and offshore mining? The annual catch of industrial trawlers? Their by-catch? Whether or not the dugong is extinct? No one knows. Statistics are often unfounded. The World Bank says Japan is paying Tanzania "up to $200m" for tuna fishing rights. $1m is probably more like it.
Yet the exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles granted to every country with a coastline comes with an expectation of management. In a planet of shrinking natural resources that raises the question: should Africa lose what it cannot protect? But that is a red herring. Africa is losing its living oceans no matter what it does. That trend will accelerate as the industrial fishing fleets of China, Russia and the European Union look to hoover up what remains while new development along the African coastline lays waste to wetlands and mangrove forests.
A sailor and a fisherman, Baobab has just written a novel about the ocean, and is working to preserve Somalia's seas. Even taking this wet-bob bias into account, and setting aside ethical questions about human annihilation of species, there is no disputing the economic value of marine biomass and biodiversity. The billions of dollars Africa already earns from its seas through fishing and tourism will increase tenfold as fish become scarce and prices increase. That revenue could increase still further as the pharmaceutical industry finds new worth in marine species. But if the present carnage continues, exemplified by the collapse of shark populations, future Africans will earn nothing. The plight of Africa's rhinos and elephants is more visible but what happens beneath the waves is more important to the continent's future.
Most African capitals are inland and the continent lacks a maritime tradition so few people know or care about these matters. Baobab has a proposal. Africa should rename the blue water beyond its shores—east to Mauritius, west to Ascension, south to the Prince Edward Islands—the African Ocean. From the surf of Morocco to the chill Cape of Good Hope, and around to the pristine atolls of Aldabra, the African Ocean would have plenty of variety. A gimmick, but it might spur a sense of ownership at a critical time.
On this blog our correspondents delve into the politics, economics and culture of the continent of Africa, from Cairo to the Cape. The blog takes its name from the baobab, a massive tree that grows throughout much of Africa. It stores water, provides food and is often called the tree of life.
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Could I suggest that regulating the demand side should be investigated more closely? Apparently well-regulated countries in the orient appear to enjoy more sea food than can be provided from their own depleted shores. Rather than trying to police vast stretches of oceans, can tariffs in relatively developed countries start to provide a more cost-effective route to saving these treasures? For example, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Malaysia, to name & shame a few.
By the way, Baobab, Thanks for the link of your novel.
Interesting questions. But there are things we know but the powerfull does not want us know. We know that the unfortunate land of Somalia has been suffering toxic damping, illegal and wide-spread industrial fishing that eventually led to the rise of the modern piracy; we also know that Kenya is encouraged to take over Somali Territorial Waters. But we only hear Somali pirates and Kenya attacking Al-Shabaab!!
A gimmick and possibly a dangerous one, leading to sitting back on hands thinking that something has been achieved. A sense of ownership hasn't protected the rhino and elephant - and they're visible, not hidden in the ocean. Far far more has to be done before we realise the wealth of the oceans in a responsible manner.
Renaming the Ocean? Wonderful. That's a sad gimmick. The very real problems you list need very real, ie costly investment, regulation, overseeing and cooperation. Starting with the flag states of foreign fleets indulging in blatant IUU fishing (that's poaching for you) being served strict notice in international organizations. And that's only a start. Oil digging operations off African shores are notoriously sloppy. Equatorial Guinea, a mere example, is an ongoing disaster; fisheries research vessels are routinely turned back at gunpoint, after they've sampled ocean floor which is nothing but oil sludge for hundreds of square miles. African officials are complicit, and why shouldn't they, since the main culprits call the shots in Washington or Beijing.
The marine biodiversity assets off African shores are indeed enormous, and may come in handy in a not so distant future, when our own seas are more or less cleaned up of pollution - and brimming with low-value lifeforms (jellyfish sushi, anyone?). But that kind of long-term thinking obviously cannot compete in a world of fast-trading and weekly financial reports.