By Tabora Bojang
Fisheries Minister, Musa Drammeh, has revealed that fishing vessels operating in Gambian waters are using Dakar to land their catches because there is no fish landing port in the country.
He maintained that despite this arrangement, the “ten percent” that is owed to the government of The Gambia is paid regularly.
Minister Drammeh was responding to concerns raised by Banjul Central lawmaker, Touma Njai, over why vessels in the country are using Dakar as their port of call.
“We don’t have a fish landing port or processing plants here. The only two plants we had are Pelican and A Plus but they had problems with the ministry and they have been suspended,” Drammeh, said at the closing of the Assembly’s adjournment debate Thursday.
He alleged that the two companies were involved in “illegal operations” by importing fish from Chile and other places into The Gambia, packaging and exporting them to Europe.
According to him, government is partnering with international organisations to help investigate these cases.
“Until then, all our fishing vessels have to land in Senegal but the 10 percent that is owed to the government is always paid here regularly,” Minister Drammeh said.
According to Minister Drammeh, the ministry has already made a 100 percent increment on all fishing licenses.
In 2015, former president Jammeh imposed a ban on industrial fishing in The Gambia but this was lifted in 2017 by the Barrow government and since then, dozens of licenses have been issued to fishing firms and vessels.
Last year, Amnesty International issued a report stating that chronic overfishing, especially by foreign-owned trawlers which are scooping up small fish such as sardinella and bonga to be turned into meal for fish farming is having a devastating impact on The Gambia.
The report estimated that illegal and excessive fishing off The Gambia, and 5 other West African countries including Senegal amounted to a total loss of $2.3 billion per year.
The Gambia has also signed a fishing agreement with the EU which allows its vessels to catch up to 3,300 tons of tuna and 750 tons of hake every year.
