NOUAKCHOTT - Mauritania will ban the export of three varieties of fish due to the food crisis in the country, an internal government memorandum showed on Thursday.
Exports of bluefish, mullet and meagre would be banned and "exclusively reserved for domestic Mauritanian consumption," said the ministry of fisheries and maritime economy memo.
The measure was aimed at cutting the cost of fish in local markets in particular the three types named which were now "excessively expensive," ministry sources added.
The World Bank said earlier this year it would give Mauritania nine million dollars (5.77 million euros) in development aid to help the country face its food crisis.
Mauritania, which imports some 70 percent of its food needs, has been hit hard by rising global food prices.
The country is comparable in size to Egypt with an area of more than a million square kilometers (nearly 400,000 square miles), approximately three quarters of which is desert or semi-desert.
Most of the population of 3.1 million still depends on agriculture and livestock for their livelihood.
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