Mozambique fishing industry manpower development receives major boost

The Mozambican fishing industry’s efforts to expand its pool of skilled labor has received a major boost after a successful capacity building event in early December, paving the way for more training opportunities for new entrants, especially in the marine fishing sector.

The Professional Capacity Building Programme for the Marine Fishing Sector in Mozambique event held in early December in Mozambique, which took place as part of the Public-Private Partnership for Development (PPPD) initiative, aims to improve the employability of the country’s young people in the seafood industry, in addition to enabling them meet the international marine fishing certifications, according to Pescanova Group, a publicly traded Spanish company.

PPPD is an initiative of the Pescanova Group and Pescamar in collaboration with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Consellería do Mar of the Xunta de Galicia, and the Matola de Pescas School of Mozambique.

“This training program aims to improve the employability of young people in the country by adapting the training offer provided by the Escola de Pesca in Matola [Mozambique] to the needs of the fishing industry and to the requirements of the National Authority for Professional Education in Mozambique (ANEP) and the international regulations imposed by the International Maritime Organization,” Pescanova said in a statement.

For Nueva Pescanova Group subsidiary Pescamar, the project is “strategic as it will represent a significant training improvement for professionals in the marine fishing sector, contributing to enriching the generational relay plan for its fleet crews in Mozambique.”

Pescamar, which accounts for two-thirds of total shrimp quotas and catch in Mozambique, will support the training at the fishing school by offering an internship program and providing employment opportunities to successful graduates who “demonstrate strong performance.” Since 2018, Pescamar has absorbed at least 30 graduates of the training program.

Escola de Pesca de Matola, with the support of Spanish maritime training institution of Instituto Politécnico Marítimo-Pesqueiro do Atlántico (Xunta de Galicia), “will develop actions to train the teaching staff, as well as to design and implement regulated and short-term courses” on marine fishing, Pescanova said.

To successfully carry out the training Escola de Pesca de Matola will, under the new partnership, “receive the necessary equipment and material to carry out this training and a permanent collaboration space will be established between the private marine fishing sector and the training entities to adapt the teaching content to the needs of the sector,” according to Pescanova.  

Photo courtesy of Nueva Pescanova