December 1, 2021
Albert Baron Ansu a
It was a manifesto promise of the government of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party led by President Bio that unregulated fishing must be curtailed to ensure that marine products stolen out of the country becomes something of the past.
In keeping with this targeted, at has been unraveled at the recently concluded Ministry of Information and Communications retreat that the Ministry of Marine Resource has put measures in place that will curtail the incidence of stealing fish species in Sierra Leone.
One such measure to reduce illegal fishing is the installation of monitoring mechanism in all licensed fishing vessels.
It has also been disclosed that the cited measure will be complemented by a combination of intelligence led fisheries patrols and Automatic Identification Systems and vessel monitoring systems.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has been able to catalogue the country’s priceless high-valued exportable fish include snapper, grouper, catfish, barracuda, tuna, cuttlefish, herring, sea bream, octopus, squid, lobster, shrimps, croakers, herring, Bonga, etc.
According to Minister Emma Kowa Jalloh “We have over 400,000 metric tonnes of fish, excluding shrimps and lobsters in our waters. We can catch over 120,000 tons every year as maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Our offshore shrimps and Lobster Fisheries are not yet fully exploited.”
The presentation made key targets from the fisheries and marine resources sector namely: “By 2023, the fisheries sector is expected to generate at least US$15–20 million in government revenue and contributes at least 16 percent to the country’s GDP.”
Sierra Leone has 570 kilometers of coastline, with continental shelf area of 30,000 square kilometer.
- The ministry has highlighted its key achievments to include: Training on Fish Quality Inspection Procedures, Data Requisition on Fish Quality Management (sanitary and hygiene) and Record keeping for Fish Inspectors, Enumerators, Dock Observers, At Sea Observers and Fisheries Officers; Training on fish spoilage at Tombo and Goderich Fisheries Outstations; 12 Units of smoke ovens constructed under the Iceland Project and 2 Ahorto (Alafia) under the World Bank at Tombo; Improved Smoke Ovens to improve fish quality and reduce smoke inhalation; slaughter house constructed at Goderich and 3 fish raised platforms for landing and processing of fish were constructed in Tombo, Goderich and Mania under the GoSL; Performing organoleptic test of fish to evaluate quality; Implementation of hygiene and sanitation at four major landing sites – Tombo, Goderich, Konakridee and Sulima; Six (6) units of 10 toilets constructed at Tombo, 4 units of 8 toilets and 6 units of 8 toilets each constructed at Goderich, Sulima and Konakridee under the Government of Sierra Leone; In collaboration with private partners colds rooms now exist in Bo, Kenema, Kono, Makeni, Kailahun, Shenge, Moyamba Districts; 5 cold rooms constructed- Sulima, Pujehun District and Buedu & Todola-Kailahun and Moyamba; UNDP has procured 5 solar powered cold rooms to be installed in Bonthe, Bonthe District , Tombo, Western Rural District , Konakrydee, Port Loko District Shenge, Moyamba District and Goderich, Western Rural District 5 cold rooms constructed- Sulima, Pujehun District and Buedu & Todola-Kailahun and Moyamba; Perimeter fence constructed around Bo Experimental fish Station; Administrative building in Bo and staff quarters in Makali, Rehabilitated; 12 experimental fish ponds rehabilitated in Bo and 8 in Makali and 26 ponds constructed in Kono.\