The octopus mafia still rampant

Last Sunday, the Timlili gendarmerie brigade in the Dakhla province seized four traditional boats operating illegally in the region's waters. The clandestine octopus fishermen, currently in a biological rest period, managed to escape in extremis before the gendarmes arrived. Sophisticated underwater fishing equipment, as well as several motors and inflators, were seized at the same time. The octopus cargo, which exceeded 200 kilos, was also seized. The boats, which carried false registrations—as the octopus mafia in this region uses one licence number for several vessels—were burned by the gendarmerie. The sector's regulations stipulate in this regard that "any artisanal fishing vessel that is unregistered, and does not have a police permit or a registration plate, is considered to have no legal existence and must be seized and destroyed".In the opinion of several operators in the secto…