Dawda Saine said: “This statistic was from a survey that was conducted sometime ago, looking at the number of beneficiaries in the sector. Looking at the crew, a boat can have between 10 and 15 people on board. There is also the women, who form the link between production and post-harvest; the banabana, those who are doing the fish trading are also direct beneficiaries. And then you come to the potters, those who discharge the fish in Tanji, Bakau, Gunjur etc. These are the people benefiting directly from the sector.
He continued: “When you talk about the indirect beneficiaries, a lot of businesses are operating in Tanji because of the fish. You have people there selling water, fish, food etc, these are indirect beneficiaries. They get their income from the fishing sector, even you the consumers, sometimes you go to the beach and buy fish. So this is what make up the number of 200, 000 people benefiting from the sector.”
Mr Saine said the figure could be more “because there is a need for us to have some kind of research, another assessment to see what was there after the last research.” He said the importance and benefits of fishing cannot be over-emphasised, thus stressed the need for the protection of Gambian waters from over-fishing and illegal fishing.
He said: “The fish is for all of us and not for today’s generation alone, it is for today, tomorrow and the future generation. We have to make sure it is sustainable so that the future generation and the generation to come would meet something here. Another issue on the part of women, since they form the link between production and post-harvest is that they, should stop buying the small juvenile fish because if they don’t buy it, the fishermen would not bring it. But if they have a buyer, they will always bring it. So I want to tell them that let us respect nature and contain nature the way it was giving to us.”
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