Abstract
Informal cross-border fish trade (ICBFT) is becoming predominant in many African nations and unfortunately there is little information on its magnitude at country level. To address this gap, this study was conducted in mainland Tanzania covering two border posts and one fishing village, to identify the nature, conditions and assess the weight and value of ICBFT in comparison to the available official data, so as to determine the Government revenue loss for the marine small pelagic fishery which is locally known as dagaa. Data was collected through participants observation, interviews and informal routes monitoring framework. Interview excerpt coding, social network analysis and quantification were used in data analysis. Findings revealed that the marine dagaa informal cross-border trade is being operated in a multifaceted setting, characterized by five aspects: network; key actors; social supports; informal cross-border trade routes; and informal transiting places, time and vehicles. Middlemen and Porters scored higher network centrality scores, implying that, they are the key actors in the ICBFT operation. Further, it was found that the marine dagaa ICBFT accounted for about 972.6 M. tons valued at US$1.8 million, which is 7.5 higher compared to official data between 2018 and 2019, resulting in approximately US$165,006 government revenue loss. Such findings are essential for assessing the total contribution of cross-border fish trade to the country's economy, and setting appropriate ICBFT management strategies to maximize benefits from the cross-border trade in the country for people’s well-being and the neighbouring countries.
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Notes
‘mamluki’ in Swahili literary means a person who works undercover for a processor to purchase fish catches.
Average exchange rate of 1 US$ was TZS. 2307.06.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful are grateful to the five anonymous porters from the Tunduma border post and Jasini fishing village for sharing their valuable time, information and participating in data collection. This work is part of the first author’s Ph.D. Thesis funded by the South Western Indian Ocean Fisheries Governance and Shared Growth (SWIOFish) project, through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Grant No. TF019021 of the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries mainland Tanzania. Finally, I would also like to thank Dr. Almas F. Mazigo and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that have improved this paper.
Funding
This study was funded by the South West Indian Ocean Fisheries Governance and Shared Growth Program (SWIOFish), Project No. P132123 of the World Bank under the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries—Mainland Tanzania.
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LJI: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Funding acquisition, Data collection, Formal analysis, Writing–original draft, Writing-review and editing. POO: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Data collection, Validation, Review and editing. ASH: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Review and editing. PLM: Conceptualization, Supervision, Validation, Review and editing.
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Ibengwe, L.J., Onyango, P.O., Hepelwa, A.S. et al. Revealing the hidden marine dagaa cross-border trade in mainland Tanzania. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 33, 717–738 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-023-09769-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-023-09769-4