The Director-General of the International Maritime Institute of Nigeria (IMION), Rear Admiral Thaddeus Udofia (rtd), Ph.D., has unveiled a five-pillar strategic framework to salvage Nigeria’s fisheries sector, protect coastal livelihoods and address food insecurity.
Udofia unveiled the framework during his address at the Maritime Correspondents’ Organisation of Nigeria (MARCON) National Conference on Sustainable Fishing held at Rockview Hotel, Apapa, Lagos.
Speaking on the theme, “Sustainable Fishing in Nigeria: Pathways to Growth, Food Security and Coastal Livelihoods,” the IMION Director-General called for a decisive shift towards disciplined execution, stronger enforcement and measurable performance in the management of the country’s marine resources.
He said Nigeria could not achieve sustainable fisheries development while allowing its marine resources to be depleted through destructive practices, inadequate regulation or neglect.
“Let me be clear regarding sustainability: we cannot expect to harvest tomorrow what we ruthlessly destroy, allow others to destroy, or neglect to nurture today.
“To transition from vulnerability to long-term sustainability and food security, Nigeria must boldly chart a new course defined by disciplined execution and measurable performance indicators,” he stated.
Under the framework, Udofia identified unified regulatory enforcement as the first pillar, calling for harmonisation of the competencies of maritime security agencies, port economic regulators and fisheries departments.
He said the successes recorded by the Nigerian Navy in suppressing piracy and combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing should be systematically extended across Nigeria’s domestic fisheries domain.
The second pillar, data-driven maritime policy, focuses on strengthening the scientific basis for fisheries management. Udofia called for greater support for institutions such as the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR) and IMION to generate reliable data on fish stocks.
According to him, policies covering catch limits, closed seasons and marine protected areas should be based on credible scientific data and backed by effective enforcement.
He identified aggressive aquaculture transition as the third pillar, advocating a shift from unpredictable wild-capture fisheries towards technologically driven aquaculture.
Udofia said modern cage culture systems in coastal lagoons could help address Nigeria’s food deficit, while investments in cold-chain infrastructure, processing technology and institutional training would help reduce post-harvest losses.
He added that such interventions could transform fishing from a subsistence activity into a more structured wealth-generating enterprise, particularly for women and young people.
The fourth pillar, advanced intelligence monitoring, centres on the use of technology and data to improve marine management and spatial planning.
Udofia advocated the immediate deployment of Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) and satellite surveillance, alongside stricter enforcement of catch quotas, to monitor industrial fishing activities and protect the ability of marine ecosystems and coastal communities to regenerate.
The fifth pillar, community-led co-management, calls for greater involvement of coastal communities in the management and protection of fisheries resources.
Udofia argued that top-down enforcement alone could not deliver sustainable fishing, stressing that coastal communities, which have depended on marine resources for generations, should be empowered to play a formal role in protecting them.
He called on the government to institutionalise Community-Based Fisheries Management (CBFM) by empowering local cooperative societies and granting them legitimate co-management rights.
According to him, giving communities a legal and vested stake in their marine environment would position them as frontline defenders against destructive fishing practices.
