The collection of data on the fisheries of The Gambia started from the 1950s to the late 1970s. According to data collected by the Daily Observer column Fisheries, manuscripts were prepared in 1980, mostly by outside observers on short visits to the Gambia.

Although farming was and is still the predominant occupation of the Gambian people, rural communities were fishing on subsistence basis using simple fishing tools such as traps, cast nets, etc.

A fisheries statistical system was not in place before 1976 to estimate artisan fishery production nor was adequate fishing effort data collected and catalogued. A study conducted in 1980 estimated that a total number of 83 fish landing sites existed throughout the country with 11 in the Atlantic Coast Stratum (ACS).

A total Number of 712 canoes were also recorded with 290 in the ACS. About 89 per cent of those canoes operating in the ACS were said to have been motorised.

The results of the 1994 Frame Survey of the artisan fishers operating in the 135 known fish landing sites in the country has also revealed that 62.9 percent of the people engaged in fishing activities were Gambians.

The Fisheries Department has registered noteworthy achievements in the development of fisheries and is credited with having transformed a once foreign dominated sector into a Gambian dominated one.

Meanwhile, the latest Frame Survey conducted in 1997 indicated that there is a total number of135 fish landing sites with the 1785 canoes operating sites, countrywide. Out of this number, 494 canoes were said to be found in the Atlantic Coastal Stratum area, with 87 per cent motorisation.

Although no formal frame survey has been conducted since, field staff stationed in the coastal fishing villages reported a 15 percent increase in 2000. The sector has expanded considerably in the past two decades with new entrants every year.

 
Since the introduction of motorised canoes in the mid 1960s by a migrant Senegalese fisherman, The Gambia has witnessed the transformation of its fishery sector from paddled canoes with simple fishing techniques to one with modern fishing technologies and larger canoes with outboard engines.

This has resulted to an increase in fish landings.
This development was the result of the policy adopted by the Fisheries Department in particular and the Government of The Gambia as a whole  in providing credit facilities to fishers.

The fisheries sector is the major supplier of animal protein and probably has the greatest potential for making a positive and immediate impact on the country's long-term development goals to achieving equitable income distribution, consistent with the general improvement of the status of people in rural areas.

Unfortunately, the records of the fish catch levels from the 1950s up to the late 1970s could not be traced out. From enquiries conducted, it was revealed that staff of the Fisheries Department started collecting fisheries data during the 1970s.

It also emanated from these enquiries that proper records management was a constraint in those days, thus resulting in the loss of many documents. It is interesting to note that the apparent trend is an upward one.

Members of the West African Development Organisation of Fisheries on Wednesday held a one-day meeting at Gunjur in Kombo South. The meeting was meant is part of the association’s efforts in contributing towards the development of fisheries sector in the sub region.

Participants at the meeting were drawn from almost all the countries of the West African sub region.

Addressing the meeting, Chairman of the association Mr. Charles Batalevita thanked their host for the warm welcome.

According to him, the aims and objectives of the association is to promote and develop small scale fishing projects in Africa and to ensure quality fishing as well as to create employment for youths. He noted that the association was formed by the 16 member states of the West Africa. 

Dely Lucieu, Director of the association, hails members of the Gunjur Community Fisheries project for maintaining the structure build by the Japanese government some five years ago. He encouraged them to continue working hard. For his part, Mr. Alieu Touray Chairman of Gunjur Community Fisheries Centre informed the meeting about his committee, which he said compose of 34 members and nine sub committee members. He revealed that the Centre is creating employment for many West African nationals.

The chief of the area Sheriff Ajay Janneh commended the West African Development Organisation of Fisheries for choosing The Gambia and Gunjur in particular to host the meeting.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Dampha Assistant Director of Fisheries.

Economic losses in marine fisheries resulting from poor management, inefficiencies, and overfishing add up to US$50 billion per year, according to a new World Bank-FAO report released today. Taken over the last three decades, these losses total over $US2 trillion, a figure roughly equivalent to the GDP of Italy.

But, The Sunken Billions: The Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform also argues that well-managed marine fisheries could turn most of these losses into sustainable economic benefits for millions of fishers and coastal communities.

“Sustainable fisheries require political will to replace incentives for overfishing with incentives for responsible stewardship,” said Kieran Kelleher, Fisheries Team Leader, World Bank. “It is not just about boats and fish. This Report provides decision makers with the economic arguments for the reforms needed.”

Strengthened fishing rights can provide fishers and fishing communities with incentives to operate in an economically efficient and socially responsible manner. Phasing out subsidies that enhance redundant fishing capacity and harvesting effort will improve efficiency. Greater transparency in allocation of fish resources and greater public accountability for fisheries management and health of fish stocks will help eco-labeling initiatives to certify sustainable fisheries.

According to the Report, the bulk of losses occur in two main ways.

First, depleted fish stocks mean that there are fewer fish to catch, and therefore the cost of finding and catching them is greater than it might be. Second, fleet overcapacity means that the economic benefits of fishing are dissipated due to redundant investment and operating costs.

The Report stresses that figure of US$50 billion represents a conservative estimate – it excludes losses to recreational fisheries and marine tourism as well as losses due to illegal fishing.

Excess fishing capacity

Long before the fuel price increases of 2008, the economic health of the world’s marine fisheries was in decline.

The build up of fishing fleets, deployment of increasingly powerful fishing technologies and increasing pollution and habitat loss has depleted fish stocks worldwide. Global marine catches have been stagnant for over a decade, hovering at around 85 million tons per year. Meanwhile, fisheries productivity -measured in terms of catch per fisher, or per fishing vessel-has declined, even though fishing technology has advanced and fishing effort increased.

If world fish stocks were rebuilt, the current marine fisheries catch could be achieved with approximately half of the current global fishing effort, the Report says.

Underperformance and hidden costs

According to FAO, over 75 percent of the world’s fish stocks are either fully exploited or overexploited.

But, the focus on the state of stocks has tended to obscure the even more critical economic health of the fisheries. When fish stocks are fully exploited, the associated fisheries are almost invariably performing below their economic optimum, the Sunken Billions reports. In some cases, fisheries may be biologically sustainable but still operate at an economic loss.

And while many fisheries are profitable, the global picture is that fish catching operations are buoyed up by subsidies, the Report finds. “At the global level, each ton of fish caught uses almost half a ton of fuel – much of it wasted in redundant harvesting effort,” it notes.

“Right now, no one is winning,” said Rolf Willmann, Senior Fishery Planning Officer of FAO, one of the Report’s authors. “The real income levels of fishers are depressed, much of the industry is unprofitable, fish stocks are depleted and other sectors of the economy foot the bill for an ailing fishing industry.”

According to the Report, the recovery of ‘the sunken billions’ can take place through two main approaches.

First, a reduction in fishing effort would increase productivity, profitability, and net economic benefits. Second, rebuilding fish stocks would lead to increased sustainable yields and lower fishing costs.

Benefits for developing countries

Economically healthy fisheries are fundamental not only to the restoration of fish stocks but also to improved livelihoods, exports, fish food security, and economic growth. Marine fishing operations are only part of the $400 billion global seafood industry, but economically healthy catch operations underpin the sustainability of supply and profitability of processing and distribution activities, a major source of employment, particularly in developing countries.

“For each person employed at sea another three people are employed on shore,” noted Willmann. “Fish is the main animal protein for over 1 billion people.It provides livelihoods for over 200 million people and 90% of these people are in developing countries.”

Signs of progress

The good news is that governance reforms have turned the tide in some fisheries, The Sunken Billions notes.

“Strengthening fishing rights systems is fundamental to addressing the problems facing the sector,” said Ragnar Arnason, a Fisheries Economist at the University of Iceland and a co-author of the Report, pointing to successful experiences in Iceland , New Zealand , and Namibia

Strengthening the use, access, or ownership rights of fishers is supported by a growing number of organizations that see the need to create incentives for responsible stewardship. Promotion of ‘rights-based fisheries’ features in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s Resolution on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for the ASEAN Region. The Abuja Declaration on Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa, adopted by the Heads of State Meeting of The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) “Fish for All Summit” Abuja, Nigeria, 25 August 2005 also endorsed ‘rights-based fisheries’. The world’s largest fishery, Peru’s anchoveta fishery, is also moving towards a rights-based approach, where it is proposed to make the fishery pay for a social safety net for fishers.

“Governance reforms are often politically difficult, particularly if some reduction in fishing fleets or in the numbers of fishers may occur,” says Kelleher. “And the rights and livelihoods of fishers should be secured in any reform process,” he added.

The production of The Sunken Billions: the Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform was supported by PROFISH, a World Bank partnership focused on policy initiatives for sustainable fisheries.

In a bid to improve the framework of implementation of the West Africa component of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) assisted Safety at Sea Project within the seven member states of the sub-regional fisheries commission namely Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone, the FAO, in collaboration with the Department of State for Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, recently began a five-day training of trainers workshop at the Tanji Community Fisheries Center in the Western Region.

The Safety at Sea Project aims, among other things, to build and strengthen capacities of community fisher folks in areas of navigation, especially the rules of the route at sea, the use of GPS, meteorological data in fisheries, Search And Rescue at sea (SAR), Participatory Monitoring Control and Surveillance (MCS).

Mr Adiatu Njai, director of fisheries, at the Department of State for Fisheries said the workshop was meant to arm and expose fishermen and fishing communities to safety measures at sea. He  urged the fishermen to be cautious once they are at sea and reminded them about the use of life jacket.

Mamanding Kuyateh, FAO regional coordinator in  West Africa on the Safety at Sea Project, described fishing at sea as one of  the most dangerous occupations in the world. He added that safety at sea and related issues are important for both small and large scale fishers to be aware of.

According to the FAO Safety at Sea boss, accidents and other related  incidents  rates are very high in some countries, which most often involve huge loss of human lives within fishing communities and cause severe distraught for families as well as entire communities and the nation at large.

Mr Kuyateh explained that issues bordering on safety at sea within the small-scale fisheries sector had earlier on  received very  little attention and regulation, therefore, the  need to build and strengthen capacities of national partners in order to regulate issues relating to safety at sea within the fishing communities.

“As partners in struggle, we are concerned about  the  high loss of lives at sea. The  appropriate  capacities and skills  for ensuring safety at sea in our small-scale fisheries sectors cannot be over emphasised," he said.

Mr Kuyateh then disclosed plans for the establishment of  National Safety at Sea bodies, which according to him, will be  institutionalised in each of the concerned countries and functional within decentralised local government structures.

Kombo South Youth Congress, in collaboration with Gunjur Village Development Committee, recently embarked on a massive cleansing exercise at the Gunjur fisheries Centre.

Speaking to The Point, the chairman of the Kombo South Youth Congress, Malang Fatty, said the congress was engaging in the exercise monthly in other villages in the district. He called for unity and understanding among the youth of Gunjur.

He revealed that environmental sanitation is a concern for every citizen and expressed his readiness to continue the cleansing exercise in other parts of the district.

Ousman Demba, social secretary of the Kombo South Youth Conference, expressed delight with the youth of Gunjur for their massive turnout.

For his part, the assistant director of the Gunjur Fisheries Project, Alhagie Jammeh - alias “Ash” – expressed appreciation to the youth of Kombo South and the Gunjur development Committee for a job well done.