Research vessel to focus on promoting sustainable fisheries

Mauritania and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will join forces to build a research vessel by 2030 to contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 14, ‘life below water’, by promoting science-based sustainable fishery resource management and marine environmental conservation.

JICA is to provide about US$19 million in aid for the construction of the fishery vessel, the agency announced on its website on 29 November.

The vessel aims to improve the capacity of the Mauritanian Institute of Oceanographic Research and Fisheries to conduct research on fishery resources in the sea area of Mauritania and the autonomous port of Nouadhibou.

Towards healthy aquatic ecosystems

Mohamed Yeslem Elbagher, a former Mauritanian researcher at the University of Nouakchott, welcomed the new project. He told University World News: “This project will help to improve technological and innovation capabilities through … strategies that support the health and sustainability of aquatic ecosystems which, in turn, direct higher education and scientific research towards socio-economic development in Mauritania.

“The project will not only enhance the productivity of Mauritania’s exclusive economic zone, which contains some of the world’s richest fishing grounds, but will also have a global impact on marine conservation,” said Elbagher.

The new project is one of the initiatives for implementing Mauritania’s research and innovation strategy (2022-26) which focuses on building bridges between research, industry, society and higher education. This is through making research and innovation a lever for socio-economic transformation, achieving SDGs along with implementing the objectives of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa, 2024, or STISA, and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which is themed, ‘The Africa We Want’.

Partnerships for ocean science research

The Mauritania-Japan cooperation is in line with a 2022 report titled, Ocean science: Sustainability concerns add urgency for research, which indicated that “external partnerships are likely required to build or operate the necessary infrastructure for ocean science research”.

While the fishing sector is very important to the Mauritanian economy, estimated to contribute between 4% and 10% of Mauritania’s gross domestic product and accounts for between 35% and 50% of Mauritania’s exports, Japan has the most universities (41 out of 628 universities from 90 countries or regions recognised for their significant contributions to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 14 (life below water) in the Times Higher Education (SDGs) Impact Rankings.

Achieving SDGs

The fishery research vessel will help to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14, which focuses on (life below water). This goal deals with the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources, which requires scientific knowledge, the development of research capacity and the transfer of marine technology to improve ocean health and enhance the contribution of marine biodiversity.

The research vessel will also aim to increase the economic benefits from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through the sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism. In addition, the project will help to promote sustainable fishing, through implementing science-based management plans to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that represent the maximum sustainable yield as determined by the fish stock’s biological characteristics.

Japan’s science and technology diplomacy

Professor Magdi Tawfik Abdelhamid, based at Cairo’s National Research Centre in Egypt, who obtained his PhD from the Japan-based Gifu University, told University World News: “This Mauritania-based initiative [will] help Japan to step up its scientific and technological efforts to enhance its Africa engagement and catch up with other global powers, especially China, in boosting its soft power capabilities on the African continent by pursuing both economic and geopolitical objectives.”

Abdelhamid’s view aligns with a 2023 study, ‘Japan’s Science and Technology Diplomacy: Society 5.0 and its International Projection’, which stated that “science and technology diplomacy has become a major focus for Japan” since it launched the Society 5.0 project in 2016, which sought to revolutionise Japan’s economy, society and governance through technology.

“This science and technology diplomacy has the potential to not only strengthen Japan’s external action, but also transform its industries and research while it is transforming the infrastructures of Japan’s partner,” the study said.

The Global Soft Power Index 2024 (GSPI), which evaluates soft power strength based on higher education and science capabilities, among other indicators, ranked Japan fourth out of 193 countries worldwide in 2024.

Japan was ranked fourth among the top five most influential countries after the United States (1), United Kingdom (2), China (3), and was followed by Germany (5).