Sierra Leone's Marine Fisheries Bad Enough To Provoke One-Month Closure By Government
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According to Suma, things have gotten so bad that fishermen now spend days at sea, only to return with smaller catches than before. He outlined a number of grievances against the industrial fishing vessels: encroachment into the coastal zones meant for exclusive use by artisanal fishers, accidental yet costly destruction of artisanal fishers’ gear, and tragically, collisions at sea that have injured and killed artisanal fishers. He called on the government to take immediate action to protect artisanal fishers’ interests and safety.
Officials were likewise positive about the effect of the closure. A public notice from the ministry declaring the end of the closed season states that the navy, Joint Maritime Committee, Maritime Police and Artisanal Fishermen Consortium monitored the waters during the closure, and a specially formed task force monitored the supply chain to ensure no illegally caught fish entered.
“I consider the closed season a success; for the first time in the history of Sierra Leone there is a breathing space for fish,” said Salieu Sankoh, director of the World Bank’s West African Regional Fisheries Program (WARFP) in Sierra Leone, which funded two seven-day surveillance boat patrols during the closure. “You will liken it to every day 10 thousand boats are in the sea running after these fish stocks and about 100 industrial fishing boats rove those waters 24 hours, chasing the same fish stocks.”
Since 2010 the World Bank has been attempting to assist Sierra Leone and other West African countries improve governance and sustainable management of their fisheries and reduce illegal fishing. This has included helping artisanal fisherman develop local bylaws that restrict fishing using certain kinds of gear and during certain days, according to Sankoh. A key principle of the overall effort has been controlling access to fish stocks, he said. “In Sierra Leone people don’t need to obtain permission to engage in fishing activities, so one can build a canoe in the morning and go fishing the evening,” he said.
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https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/was-sierra-leones-one-month-fishing-ban-enough-to-replenish-fish-stocks/