Artisanal Fisheries Promotion Project

This project builds on the experience of three artisanal fisheries projects implemented along the Mozambican coast, including the now completed Sofala Bank Artisanal Fisheries Project (PPABAS), which was financed by IFAD. In addition to other financing, it is receiving US$15.7 million in grant funding from the European Union through IFAD.

The goal of the project is to improve the incomes and livelihoods of artisanal fishers and their communities. To this end, it works to boost fishing productivity, and subsequent sales sustainably, by increasing the quantity and value of the catch – and by improving all links in the value chain, up to the marketplace. Implementation focuses on four investment components: 

• Supporting the development of higher-value fish 
• Improving market infrastructure
• Developing financial services
• Strengthening institutions and promoting policy initiatives.

The project area stretches along the entire coastline from the Tanzanian border in the north to the border with South Africa in the south. The project focuses, however, on key growth poles, each comprising a major fishing centre with links to other centres up and down the coast or on adjacent islands. These growth poles have strong potential for expanding fishing and fish marketing operations.

Wealth generated through small-scale fishing and other fishing related activities, such as processing and trading, is an important factor in rural economies, particularly given that around 80 per cent of any catch is sold. Even so-called subsistence and semi-subsistence fishers sell a considerable share of their harvest to local traders. Hence, removing the obstacles that constrain the functioning of the fisheries value chain is expected to have a significant impact on the project's target group and on poverty reduction.