Morocco moves to develop fisheries

Morocco's Prime Minister, Driss Jettou, on Thursday chaired a meeting on the study of an action plan to develop the fisheries sector, covering the period between 2003 and 2007.

Under the plan, the government sets strategic objectives such as the preservation of sea resources, the protection of sea environment against all forms of pollution, increase of annual production to two million tons per year by 2007, the enhancement of the growth of sector's value added to 11 percent annually.

The generation of 90,000 new direct and indirect jobs, the amelioration of the national sea products distribution network and the development of fish culture to reach 10,000 to 15,000 tons of fish annually are also among the priorities of the plan.

In order to attain these objectives, the government envisions the gradual implementation of a series of measures, particularly of legislative nature (adoption of a new fisheries code, laws on environment protection), as well as the reinforcement of surveillance, increase the number of fishermen villages and others.