The Moroccan government ordered a temporary suspension of frozen sardine exports, as part of a broader plan to strengthen national food security and protect a marine resource under mounting pressure, according to a recent analysis.
The decision was first explained by the ministry in charge as a move to raise annual national fish consumption to 19 kilograms per person.
Sardines and other small pelagic species account for close to 80% of Morocco’s marine wealth, making them essential both to the country’s economy and to the stability of its national diet.
Finances News Hebdo notes said in an analysis the export ban marks a strategic shift in fisheries policy, with the government no longer satisfied with managing fishing quotas or supervising export flows.
It is now prepared to restrict international sales when necessary to protect local stocks, it said, adding that “the Moroccan consumer is placed at the heart of marine resource management,” Driouich emphasized, acknowledging that export volumes will temporarily decline.
Consumer associations have broadly welcomed the move as a long overdue response to alarming ecological trends.
Bouazza Kherrati, president of the Moroccan Federation of Consumer Rights, describes a situation of chronic overfishing, in which catches exceed natural regeneration rates.
This diagnosis is echoed by industry professionals. While dozens of canneries once lined Morocco’s Atlantic coast, only three or four can now reliably secure supplies.
The decline is tangible and factories are struggling to receive even minimum volumes of fish, a sign that the stock is thinning faster than expected.
