Fisheries, the potential to boost Africa's economiesListen /
Small-scale fisheries in Africa have long played an important role in providing food and livelihoods to people in coastal and rural areas.
However, some African countries don't have the capacity to make full use of the resources in their deep waters.
In fact, foreign unlicensed trawlers exploit this weakness and enter African waters to engage in illegal fishing.
The UN Food and Agriculture (FAO) is working with African countries to help improve their capacity to make better use of their maritime resources.
Arni Mathiesen, head of the FAO's fisheries department, who was at UN headquarters recently, spoke to UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha about the importance of fisheries and aquaculture in Africa.