Sand Miners Plead for Fishing Boat
Bess Berry wharf Harbour Master-Ibrahim Turay
By Ilyasa Baa
Having been the Harbour Master of Bess Berry wharf, Deep Eye Water for the past fifteen years, Ibrahim Turay explained to this medium that they would like to start fishing activities at the wharf.
The Harbour Master made a clarion call to government, NGOs or any investor to assist with at least a boat so that the growing number of sand miners most of whom are unemployed youths will reduce.
He said the wharf has untapped potential in marine resources especially fish which has become expensive in the market. “About one thousand youths depend on sand mining here, we need to divert some of them to fishing”, he said. “We are calling on President Bio to intervene like he did for youths in other wharfs across the country”, he went on adding that fishing does not have negative impacts like sand mining which has devastating consequences on the environment as well as the miners, some of whom have sleepless nights mining sand in the sea. He added that the miners have been responsible for patching the road with no help from the local council which collects dues from the wharf, he lamented. He noted that their minds are not at rest considering the fact that the rainy season when the road network becomes extremely poor has approached.
Ibrahim Turay assured that security is always intact because of his orientation pointing out that they are trying to construct a baffa (makeshift structure) at the wharf as a meeting point for the youths.
It could be recalled that the Youths in Fisheries project was established in 2014 to support the President’s Agenda for Prosperity targeting seven districts including the Western Rural, Urban, Port Loko, Bonthe, Moyamba, Kambia and Pujehun district to enhance economic empowerment for youths in coastal areas.
It could also be recalled that in November 2020, President Bio commissioned seventy boats to directly benefit 1,400 youths across the country. In his speech, the President said, “and the figures matter. My government has constructed seventy standard fishing boats with ultramodern safety and fishing accessories for just 5.5 billion Leones. “Our predecessors,” he went on “put the cost of the same number of boats (seventy) for a similar project at 14.8 billion Leones”.
