Mozambique Fisheries Sector: quick guide

What we do

This project provides support to INIP – the Mozambique fisheries Inspection Institute - to identify, manage and implement a number of SPS-Food Safety related activities specific to fish and fishery products to ensure Mozambique enjoys continued access to the European Union for its fisheries products.
These activities fall into four main focus areas:

• strengthening the legislative framework that underpins SPS matters in the fisheries sector,
• improving the quality and reach of the INIP inspection service,
• developing laboratory capacity; and
• enhancing awareness in the Mozambique fishing industry of EU export requirements and standards.

Why this intervention

The Fisheries export sector is the mainstay of the Mozambican economy. The industry supports more than 70,000 people and without the valuable foreign exchange it earns, the country could be hard pressed to pay for its imports.

The high quality of Mozambique’s fish and seafood, especially its prawns is internationally recognised, particularly by consumers in the European Union (EU). This market absorbs 80% of all Mozambique fisheries exports and in 2006 an estimated 8,000 tons of Mozambican fish and seafood was sold in Europe. As a Least Developed Country, Mozambique enjoys duty free access to the EU under the Cotonou Agreement. However, whilst trade preferences such as these enhance the overall competitiveness of Mozambique in the EU market, it does not guarantee market access.

This point was driven home in 2005 when an inspection team from the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of the EU Commission visited Mozambique to evaluate the extent to which the country’s fishing sector was able to comply with EU standards for food safety. At the conclusion of their visit, the team expressed serious doubts about Mozambique’s food safety system and indicated that unless a number of key issues were addressed, they would have no choice but to remove Mozambique from its list of countries eligible to export to the EU. In response to this threat the Mozambique authorities prioritized this matter and formulated an action plan. This process is being led and implemented by INIP (Mozambique Fish Inspection Institute).

What we achieve

INIP, with support from the Regional Standards Programme, has made good progress in addressing a number of the weakness identified in 2005. In November 2007, the EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) conducted a follow up inspection mission to Mozambique to gauge the progress the country had made since its last inspection. This mission noted that significant improvements had been made, with more than 90% of the concerns raised during their previous visit having been addressed or at least partly addressed. However they also noted a number of additional issues that require attention and to comply with this request, INIP has successfully achieved the following outputs over the past two years:

• Local Mozambique legislation for fishery products has been reviewed and good progress has been made in bringing this in-line with EC regulations/directives. For example INIP has developed new inspection and quality assurance regulation that will formally be presented to Cabinet for ratification in July 2009. While other new regulations pertaining to certification procedures and SPS licensing for fishing vessels and processing plants have been legislated and widely distributed throughout the industry.
• The inspection services provided by INIP have been improved and formalised. INIP inspectors are now governed by a code of conduct and are conversant with the new regulations. Furthermore, as a result of this project the inspection service is able to offers better national coverage and is no longer reliant on industry to provide transport for its inspectors - a situation which previously compromised their independence. 
• INIP’s three laboratories are functioning well and working towards compliance with EU requirements and ISO 17025 accreditation. This project supported the establishment of a new laboratory in Nampula in 2008. This represents an important milestone in expanding INIP’s service area. Furthermore this project has contributed towards accelerating the laboratory accreditation plans underway for the Maputo and Beira laboratories.
• The industry’s awareness of EU export requirements and standards has increased. While INIPs role is to ensure the Mozambique fishing industry complies with food safety regulations, it also has an obligation to create awareness among all segments of the industry as to what constitutes good hygiene practice. An intensive effort to train small-scale fishers across the country resulted in INIP being able to publish the names of more than 400 small-scale fishers  authorised to supply raw material to export processing facilities

How is this sustainable

INIP is a relatively new organization and once its basic service offering is brought into line with EC requirements, INIP will be able to adapt and adjust to new requirements. Furthermore, a number of the activities supported under this grant are aimed at building sustainable linkages/partnerships with similar institutions and service providers. At the end of this project, it is anticipated that INIP will be able to draw on these resources to provide it with the technical assistance should the need arise.

Who we work with

The project partner for this grant is INIP- the Mozambique Fisheries Inspection Institute. This Institute was established by the Ministry of Fisheries in 2002 and administers and monitors the safety and quality of exported fish products. As such, INIP is designated as the Competent Authority to enforce all legal provisions related to fisheries SPS issues in Mozambique.

INIP (Mozambique Fisheries Standards Authority)

The National Institute for Fish Inspection (INIP) is the Competent Authority for Fish Inspection in Mozambique. Its origin dates back to early 1983's when it was known as Quality Control Department based at the Institute for Fisheries Research (IIP), it was later transformed into a Fish Inspection Department (DIP) working at the Ministry of Fisheries. Nowadays, it is an autonomous institution and has the responsibility of bridging quality wise the Mozambican Fishery Industry with the national and world market.