Fishermen in Tombo Community in the Western Rural District, have complaint that illegal fishing by foreign trawlers has hindered their operations, therefore contributing to low production of fish to local market.
They said that, this has also affected their families since fishing is their only means of generating income and sustaining their families.
Human beings consume 50% more of fish today than they did 60 years ago. In the past decades, industrial foreign vessels have increased illegal fishing activities off Sierra Leone on their own and by enticing small-scale fishers into unlawful partnerships. This has caused over hundreds fishermen to abandon the occupation because they are making little or no catch.
According to Thomas Ortham Turay, the President and Correspondent of the Sierra Leone Artisanal Fishermen Union, illegal fishing had accounted for about 30 percent of catches by industrial foreign fleets over the years in Sierra Leone, saying that, that had caused Sierra Leoneans to import fish.
He stated that Sierra Leone has fish more than many African countries, so the country should be importing anything but not fish. “Before the industrial foreign vessels could take over the waters of Sierra Leone 75,000 registered and over 150 unregistered fishermen used to survive from fishing. But many of those fishermen have left the job because they used to make no catch. Also, the populations that are relying on fish for food and livelihoods have come under threat as fish stocks have shrunk. We are not providing fish to the market as we used to do” Turay explained.
Turay stated that fishing vessels from China, Senegal, Korea, etc. usually descend on the waters of Sierra Leone whenever global demand for fish rises.
He said that those vessels had not been only engaging on illegal fishing but had also been destroying fish stocks through their bad methods of fishing. “We used go after those poachers, but they always find way to escape through the influence of our Sierra Leonean brothers,” he said.
He appealed to Sierra Leoneans to work together in order to stop foreign trawlers from exploiting Sierra Leonean waters for their benefits. “Sierra Leoneans need to work as one to say no to illegal fishing so that our fishermen could supply enough fish to our markets,” he emphasized.
Amadu Kanu, a fisherman at Tombo community, said that having been that fishing was his only occupation and was not making enough catch, his family had been affected.
“I have five children and two wives. I have been sustaining them through fishing for 25 years now. But as a result of the foreign trawlers, I am unable to provide for them as I used. Before this time, I used to provide 6 cups of rice and le 100,000 every day for food. Now, I cannot even afford two cups of rice not to talk of le 50,000 for my family for a day. We are not making catch. So, I am appealing to the government to implement policies that would stop the foreign trawlers from coming to our seas,” Bangura concluded.
