Captain Bojang calls on gov’t to invest in fisheries

By Aminata Ceesay & Aminata Camara Alhagie Ousman Bojang, a native of Bakau Newtown and a retired officer from the Gambia Police Force, has called on the Government to invest more in fisheries development. Mr Bojang, who is commonly known as Captain Bojang, has been engaging in the fisheries for decades. “What the fisheries department needs now is supervision to see that the Act is implemented. The Act is there, the regulation is there which the government has produced for sustainable fisheries but the problem there is who is supervising the act? The supervision I am seeing is weak, regulation is weak, implementation is weak and enforcement. It is too weak that is why we have over fishing. I am calling on the Government to consider fisheries as a very important sector for the nation. I want to remind the new government to consider and supervise our current status of our natural resources such as fisheries and environment. Captain Bojang has also formed an organisation known as Gambian Artisanal Fisheries Development Agencies as a national NGO which was meant for fisher men to sensitize themselves by exchanging ideas and to know the value of the country’s natural resources. “I learned fishing traditionally with my father, local technical skills in fishing far back in 1948 and continued during my school days as a hobby. After my school days, I have continued with it as a hobby. I was finally employed in the Gambia Police Force and retired in 1958. After that, I took up fishing as my commercial profession. I then started to do local research to have more knowledge in fishing. When you talk about local knowledge in fishing it deals with the environment, water movement and their seasonal behaviour. I make all that sort of studies as an observation,” he said. “From there I started to develop myself to commercial venture. From 1979 up to date, I taught all my family members how to fish. I study and did a lot in fishery. “I participated a lot in fisheries department both within and outside the country because I was involved with Gambia Government and other regional bodies known as WADAFF,” he added. Captain Bojang further congratulated President Adama Barrow and his cabinet for their election victory and all those people who fought for the freedom of Gambian people. He advised the Government to respect the Constitution.]]>