Since ancient times, the fishing and all related activities including processing and conservation of fish are very outlined in the Moroccan coast. There are also traces of archaeological remains in several points of the coast between the orifice of Loukkos and Essaouira.
« They love their sea and they love to fish in it ; The moroccan marines and their maritime Morocco »
On both North and West sides, Morocco is maritime.
In the North exists the beautiful Mare Nostrum, the Mediterranean, where the Moroccans started their the conquest to exploit the maritime wealth, in the West exists the immensity of the Atlantic Ocean where the Moroccans set off on a quest for maritime treasures.
The Moroccans, a maritime people, have developed for centuries strong ties with their sea. Ties mainly related to fishing activities, as evidenced by the ancestral and modern fishing ports where old boats mingle with new modern boats.
« A historical testimony »
A long time ago, the fishing activity was practiced only by a few fishermen aboard small rowing boats in some parts of the Moroccan coast.
Then it started developing with the construction of the first artificial harbor ports, which boosted the maritime exploitation and marked the birth of the fishing industry.
The beginning of the Moroccan marine fishing appeared in 1918 with the development of motorboats and small rowing and sailing boats that recorded about 350 tons of fish including 230 tons of sardines, anchovies, mackerel, tuna and bonito.
Starting from the 1920s, the Moroccan maritime fishery emancipated itself from its administrative constraint and implemented the rules of preservation of the marine ecosystem, the legislation that governs the activity and the right of the fishing through the regime of the Moroccan territorial waters.
Many salting and sardine canning establishments have appeared in 1925, it marked the beginning of the establishment of a real Moroccan fishing industry.
At the beginning of the 1930s, Morocco started modernizing the fishing ships and increasing their capacities, it allowed a steady increase in the fishing volumes starting from 1957; at the same time, the sea fishing became more and more important in the national economy.
At the end of the 1960s, the sea fishing was expanding and the structuring of the sector through the implementation of a certain number of incentive measures in order to promote and develop the marine fisheries sector allowed its dynamisation and its spectacular development.
In the early 1980s, Morocco set ambitious objectives for sea fishing ranging from food safety to job creation and economic and social integration.
The Moroccan maritime fishing is constantly renewing, it engaged in these last decades in a growing industrialization, the organization of vast oceanographic research and the use of a highly productive equipment.
Now, this sector has been structured in particular through the establishment of appropriate administrative, legal and financial mechanisms that have enabled it to strengthen its capacities and means in order to enhance the national maritime heritage. All of these measures have allowed for the gradual modernization of sea fishing, the promotion and modernization of the fishing industries, and the intensification of marine scientific research and maritime training.