Topic: Protecting International Fisheries
Country: Burkina Faso
Delegate Name: Alivia Stanley
School: Williamston High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Burkina Faso position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
The most pressing matter of the fisheries is the state of the world’s fish stocks. This is a concern because the conservation and decline in fish stocks ultimately decides how the ecosystems in these bodies of water are surviving. A concerning factor of the topic is that it is hard to tell just how many of a certain species of fish there are in a body of water. It is also hard to tell how healthy the overall population of that species is. This is because there is no way to catch all the fish in some body of water so the common method is to catch a large number and use the average health of those fish caught to base the average of the entire population of that species in the area. Another reason it is hard to tell how healthy a fish population is, is because some people do not report the catches they get. The overfishing epidemic is huge and using fishing techniques such as bottom trawling effects not only the health of fisheries stock but also the people who depend on the fish for a living. Likewise many nations have taken precautions to conserve fish stocks in their national waters. Meanwhile other places do not have the necessary precautions in place due to lack in funding or support. The fisheries of Burkina Faso are very important to the people there. Especially the Burkinabe people who consume 1.5 kg of fish per capita per year. The people of Burkina Faso overfished the bodies of water in and around the country for a long time especially before 1994. Today Burkina Faso has left industrial fishing for the most part to Senegal, Mauritania, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire and instead leaves its fishing efforts to the people themselves. Burkina Faso has not passed any legal regulations against overfishing due to technical, economical and sociological reasons, therefore aquaculture in Burkina Faso is still in its early stages. Burkina Faso’s plan for the future is to create rules and regulations to keep the ecosystems in the bodies of sources in and around it healthy and thriving. Burkina Faso will do this by getting more involved in industrial fishing but not overfish the water like it had before 1994. Burkina Faso also plans to further develop its aquaculture and fisheries in the near future. Burkina Faso looks to its neighboring countries for support and donation of boats or ships since it is quite poor and cannot afford the manufacturing of large fishing ships. Burkina Faso plans to open fishery job opportunities to its people to encourage the economy in a healthy direction. Burkina Faso believes other countries should follow in their footsteps by helping to educate the citizens of their countries. This will undoubtedly help the economies of all countries and the overall health of fisheries around the world.
