BUJUMBURA, November 8th (ABP) – All boat owners operating in Lake Tanganyika are called upon to register their boats within one week, in order to have plates, otherwise sanctions will be provided for recalcitrant, said Wednesday November 6, 2024, the Director General of the Maritime and Port Authority of Burundi, Godelieve Nininahazwe at a workshop to raise awareness of users of the waters of Lake Tanganyika especially beach chiefs and fishermen.
According to her, the aim of the workshop was to inform fishermen and beach chiefs working on Lake Tanganyika about the new joint ministerial order No. 750/540/161/2024 of July 26, 2024 revising joint ministerial order No. 720/540/058/2018 of January 23, 2018 setting the rate of duties and fees levied on maritime transport and port activities in Burundi, as well as the current state of illegal fishing.
What’s more, she added, that law is already known and will help fishermen to obtain identification papers for their boats, enabling them to obtain credit from banks.
Nininahazwe returned to the major challenges haunting the fishing industry on Lake Tanganyika. Those include the lack of cleanliness on many beaches, theft and crime due to the lack of boat registration, the lack of use of life jackets and the use of mosquitoes for fishing. To meet those challenges, she called on the heads of fishermen’s associations to educate their members to respect the standards of that new ordinance for their own good.
For his part, Firmin Nikoyangize, Director of the Maritime Authority, who gave a presentation on that new ministerial ordinance, began by pointing out that the planned registration of boats will not only contribute to increasing the national budget through the collection of registration fees, but also to improving safety on the lakes and combating fraud.
According to him, at the end of the registration process, fishing boat owners will obtain the documents, in that case the title deeds, which will enable them to access bank loans to increase and improve their standard of living. He also pointed out that fees range from 72,000 to 300,000 BIF, depending on the category of fishing boat. He added that the registration fees would be paid into the fishing boat registration tax revenue account opened at the BRB under number CC1328101104802333.
On that occasion, he invited the owners of boats opening in the lakes of Burundi to register their boats in order to have plates to protect them against any form of criminality.