Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has on Tuesday November 24, 2002, highlighted key accomplishments and challenges in the fisheries sector.
President Bio said, in Freetown during the launch of equipment for sustainable fisheries, that his administration inherited a fisheries and marine resources sector riddled with corruption and mismanagement. “Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing was rife. Tax evasion, underreporting, overfishing, by mainly illegal vessels within the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) was destroying the country’s fish stock, destroying the marine ecosystem, and depriving artisanal fishers and the entire artisanal fishing community chain of their livelihoods,” President Bio said.
He said that IUU is a national security threat to lives and livelihoods because it directly impacts the local fishing industry – an industry that employs 500,000 Sierra Leoneans. “This loss of livelihoods exacerbates poverty in those coastal communities that live on fishing. It also imperils lives because fishers now have to fish farther out at sea. There are also implications for the wider economy with lower supply of fish in the local market and higher prices, and also dietary implications with fish being a major source of protein.”
He said that we should recognize that IUU thrives where there are corrupt national regimes, poor national and international legal frameworks, and ineffective or non-existent enforcement mechanisms. “As with corruption, IUU thrives when risks are low for operatives and their cohorts. Like corruption, we must make illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing risky and more expensive,” he said.
President Bio said, “We have made a lot of progress within two short years. I am pleased to inform you that with sound policies and practices, my administration increased revenue generation in the fishing industry to over 100.5 Billion Leones ($10.5 million) in 2019. Even with Covid-19, the sector has been able to generate close to Le 78bn from January – to date, 2020. This is just from tightening regulations and clamping down on corrupt practices.”
He said that they have revised the licencing regime in order to closely monitor and clamp down on possible criminal elements. In accordance with our laws and international best practices to curb IUU, he said, they have implemented a viable and effective monitor, control, and surveillance regime with the installation of an upgraded Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) on all licensed fishing vessels operating in Sierra Leone as well as in the international waters.
“We have introduced sustainable regimes for the management of fish stock, and the preservation of marine ecosystem and fish resources viability,” he said.
He maintained that, in the era of rising global demand for fish resources, fish harvesting and processing must meet minimum international sanitary standards and healthy ecosystem standards. “It is not just about capture and capture even more, but harvest, preserve, protect, and minimize waste along the production and processing spectrum. This is my expectation,” he said
“But there is more to do and my challenge is for all of us, Sierra Leoneans, to work with the ministry and associated Ministries, departments, and agencies to do more. Let us toughen up our inspection plans even more in order to weed out the falsification of vessel ownership and registration documents,” President Bio said. He challenged the Sierra Leone Maritime Agency to work with the Ministry to improve even more on what we already have in place on verifying and inspecting vessels as well as ascertaining their seaworthiness.
The president said that his government has also invested in hard assets to strengthen the monitoring, control, and surveillance of the fisheries sector. “I am pleased to announce the following: Six (6) Inshore Patrol boats for patrolling coastal inshore waters and for conducting community surveillance and extension services to coastal fishing communities; 23 VHF and UHF radio communication equipment for effective marine communication and daily update of field activities; 2, 500 life Jackets to be sold at a subsidized rate to fishing communities at various fisheries outstations to ensure safety of life at sea; tablets and android phones for data collection.
He is pleased that they are considering transitioning to a web-based data collection system, and that the Directorate of Science, Technolog, and Innovation (DSTI); and Statistics Sierra Leone (STATS SL) will provide the technical backstopping.
He also sees great value in a robust catch documentation scheme, and hopes that the Ministry could further strengthen this, so that Sierra Leone could reap the benefits of that scheme right across the production and processing value-chain.
He also challenges the Ministry to work with development partners, as in the case of Namibia, to develop an effective observer programme in Sierra Leone.
By Yeanoh Sesay and Theressa Taylor
25/11/2020. ISSUE NO: 7957