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Cameroon: Human Rights Group Condemns Chinese Fishing Atrocities
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The Post (Buea)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Peterkins Manyong
Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, ACAT, has condemned in very strong terms the atrocities committed on aquatic life by Chinese fishermen.
"They have not only impoverished Cameroonians who survive on fishing, but have also caused an ecological problem," complained Sylvester Akumbo Toh, ACAT Cameroon Secretary.
Toh told The Post in Bamenda that he raised the issue during the opening ceremony of the Norbert Kenne Training session at the Catholic University of Central Africa Yaounde, recently.
He said he told the seminar participants that the Chinese are using sophisticated equipment including very fine nets and catch all fish including the very young ones, meaning that there will be no fish left in Cameroon's territorial waters if this continues.
According to him, he has appealed to the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, FIACAT, to urge the Cameroon government to carry out investigations on human rights violations perpetrated on the inhabitants of Limbe and publish its results.
FIACAT, he further urged, should equally request the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms to meet with human rights organisations to evaluate activities and assess the environmental damage caused by Chinese irrational fishing in Limbe.
CAMASEJ ECHO, a new media publication, added its voice to ACAT's worries.According to it, the Chinese use the twin trawling method, whereby two boats move parallel, dragging a wide micro-gauge net between them.
"The nets are so strong that they leave nothing in their passage, not even fingerlings. Small nets belonging to local fishermen are simply swept away. When the huge haul is finally brought on board and the selection done the fingerlings, too small to be edible, are simply dumped back into the ocean already dead.
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As they decay, they release huge amounts of CO2 in the water causing any remaining fish to flee," reports the paper.Just like the ACAT Secretary, the paper reports that this activity, besides depriving local fishermen of their livelihood, also pollutes the water thus endangering marine life.
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