 Priority
fishing Sectors:
The Gambia Government's Fisheries body is
made up of the Fisheries Department under
the auspices of the Department of State for Fisheries, Natural Resources and the
Environment. The Department of State is responsible for overall policy
planning and guidance for the fisheries sector. The Fisheries
Department, as the technical institution, administers and implements
the national fisheries development and management plan within the
overall natural resources sector.
As The Fisheries Department is mandated to plan, manage and develop
the fisheries sector throughout the country, the Department caters for
fisheries policy and legislations frameworks. It provides advice and
service to fishing people, businesses and national and international
institutions and organizations. It is responsible for protection and
development of the resources and for monitoring, control and
surveillance of all fisheries and fisheries-related activities within
fisheries waters and on land.
Other institutions and stakeholders involved in Fisheries management
are:
Fisheries Centre Management committees;
Community Based Organizations;
Gambia Artisanal Fisheries Development Association (GAMFIDA) and NGO;
and
Association of Industrial Fishing Companies.
The fishing sector has significant potential for further development
in The Gambia. Although it has a coastline of only 80 km, its waters
can be fished year round and are relatively well populated by a wide
variety of demersal and pelagic fish and crustaceans. There is a
reciprocal agreement with Senegal which allows licenced vessels from
each country to fish in each other’s waters.
Fisheries in The Gambia are divided into two sub-sectors;
A) The artisanal sub-sector which is widely dispersed throughout the
country and is mainly based on pirogues (canoes) with outboard
engines. There are approximately 1,800 such boats in The Gambia.
B) The industrial sub sector which comprises a small number of, mainly
foreign owned, trawlers. In 2001 there were 57 such boats and one
factory ship licenced to fish in Gambia waters.
Total annual fish production in 2002 was circa 43,000 metric tones (mt),
of which only 573 tonnes was exported in 2003. Most exports are aimed
at EU markets. It is believed that the Maximum Sustainable Yield for
all species in Gambian territorial waters stands at between 150,000 mt.
and 200,000 mt.
Species of Fish in Gambian Waters:
Demersal Species:
Bottom living fish such as sole, grunts, seabreams, carangids and
cephalopods.
Pelagic Species:
Varieties such as bonga, sardinella, red mullet shads catfish, jacks
carangids and snappers live in deeper water.
Currently frozen shrimps and prawns account for over one third of all
fish exports.
Landing and Processing facilities:
There is no dedicated fish landing pier in The Gambia, although there
are some limited facilities at Banjul port. Fish are often loaded onto
pirogues which use one of the many landing points along the coast.
There are nine fish processing companies (with a capacity of between 5
and 10 metric tones per day) most of which are currently operating
below capacity.
Artisanal Sector:
The artisanal subsector is highly diverse, incorporating marine,
estuarine and freshwater fishing operations. The majority of the
communities located along the Atlantic coastline and close to the
River Gambia and tributaries engage in some form of artisanal fishing
activity, the more prominant communities include the coastal villages
of Kartong, Brufut, Tanji, Sanyang, Gunjur and Bakau, and the
riverbank villages of Albreda, Bintang, Kemoto and Tendaba
This sub-sector offers greater potential of making a positive
immediate impact on the country's long-term development goals of
achieving equitable income distribution consistent with a generalized
improvement in rural nutritional status.
This subsector engages in extensive low-input fishing practices, using
surrounding and bottom gill nets, hand and long lining, cast nets and
stow nets and a few artisanal purse seiners targeting species in all
four main stock categories (i.e. pelagics, demersal, cephalopods and
crustaceans).
Artisanal fishing crafts are predominantly dug-out canoes along the
river, and planked dug-out canoes of the Senegalese type along the
marine coast. Fibreglass fishing canoes have recently been introduced
in coastal artisanal fisheries. Artisanal fishing activities are
active in both marine and river areas.
Management measures focus on the role of the sub-sector in: providing
fish for local consumption and improved nutrition; employment
generation and improved incomes; the integration of women in the
development process as equal beneficiaries and partners; the
organization of fisherfolks into strong and viable interest groups
capable of ensuring conformity with fisheries rules and regulations;
in providing information and feed back to Government and participating
in the planning, design and implementation of development projects and
programmes.
The artisanal fish catch is either sold among the local communities
for processing (drying and smoking) or is transported and marketed in
major towns and villages in the hinterland. The processed fishery
products are transported and sold in inland markets, and some is
exported to neighboring countries. A proportion of the artisanal fish
catch of high value (shrimps, soles, sea breams, lobsters) are
purchased by industrial fishing companies for processing and export
abroad. An estimated 30000 people derive employment from the artisanal
subsector.
Industrial Fishing Sector:
Industrial fisheries activities involve use of high-cost
fish-production systems (fish trawlers), as well as high-cost
processing systems (fish factories). There are about 20 locally
registered fishing companies. Although the number keeps increasing,
only 11 companies have so far managed to invest in fish factories.
Seven fish factories have now been certified to process and export to
EU countries. The remaining fish factories have not yet satisfied the
regulations governing fish processing establishments. Only three
fishing companies have managed to acquire fishing trawlers; the rest
of the companies depend solely on supplies from artisanal fishermen to
feed the fish factories (there is always undersupply and factories
operate below capacity).
Industrial sub-sector targets four stock categories (pelagic, demersal,
cephalopods and crustaceans). However, they fish mainly demersal fish
species, which are processed and exported. The fishing companies
operate industrial fishing vessels (shrimp trawlers, demersal
trawlers) under licence, but the majority of these vessels do not land
their catches in the Gambia because of lack of a fisheries port.
Performance of the sub-sector is below expectations due mainly to the
fact that industrial fishing companies are lacking in managerial and
technical capability and capacity and are also lacking financial
resources to operate viable industrial fisheries establishments. There
is also the absence of well defined management plans based on
identified objectives and strategies pursued in a concerted manner.
The Government strategy for the development of the industrial
fisheries sector covers employment creation; increased revenue and
foreign exchange earnings; human resources development; development of
value-added fish products; implementing a standard code of hygiene and
quality for fish processing establishments; and increased monitoring,
surveillance and control of fishing activities.
Opportunities:
There exist immediate opportunities for vessel operator/traders to
supply the existing processing plants with fish, either by supplying
fish under contract, or on some form of joint venture basis with the
plants. There are also longer term opportunities for companies with an
established market presence to source product, either raw or processed
from The Gambia.
Investment Opportunities and Incentives:
The fisheries sector is one of those productive sectors that offer
prospects for immediate return on investments. However, certain
constraints, coupled with the complexity of the riverine and marine
fisheries resources, limit the sector's potentials and contributions
to the national economy. The rapid development of the sector,
therefore, must rely on a sound research-based management system that
recognizes the biological limitations of the resource base and the
urgency of improving the productivity of public and private
investments to generate sustainable growth. Although fisheries
resources are renewable, they are subject to overexploitation, and to
the influence of environmental factors. Thus the under-pinning
principle of the management system is the enforcement of judicious and
rational practices consistent with the optimum exploitation and
utilization of fish resources.
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Fisheries Sector Overview:
(broad objectives and strategy)
Fisheries development policies evolved during the two national
Five-Year Development Plans (1985 to 1995), when government
defined fisheries development policies to direct public
interventions. The broad objectives were reviewed for the
Economic Recovery Programmes (ERP) (1985-1989) and the
subsequent Programme for Sustained Development (PSD) of the
1990s. A Fisheries Management and Implementation Plan for the
Fisheries Sector was elaborated in 1989 and was replaced by the
Strategic Plan for the Fisheries Sector 1994/1995-2004. The
policy objectives of the fisheries sector are in perfect harmony
with the national development objectives for the Agriculture and
Natural Resources sector (ANR), as outlined in The Gambia
Incorporated Vision 2020, which is a blueprint for national
development objectives covering a 25-year period (1996-2020).
For a medium term economic policy framework, the Government has
articulated a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) setting
out the approach for the eradication of poverty.
Specific Objectives:
To effect rational, long-term utilization of marine and inland
fisheries resources;
to improve the nutritional standards of the population;
to increase employment opportunities in the sector;
to increase net foreign exchange earnings in the sector;
to improve the economic environment of fisheries with a view to
enhancing the sector's contribution to the national economy;
to develop aquaculture.
Development Measures:
Management Measures: Immediate management measurers/controls
are: systematic reduction and regulation of fishing effort
especially for foreign fishing vessels targeting demersal fish
species; improved MCS (Monitoring, Control, Surveillance) land
and sea; increase in fishing licence fees; critical review of
bilateral fishing agreements; critical review of performances of
fishing companies with the view to eliminating
non-performing/non-viable companies.
The minimum mesh sizes for nets of industrial fishing trawlers
are as follows:
- for demersal fish species – 70 mm
- for pelagic fish species - 40 mm
- for shrimps - 50 mm
- tuna seine nets - 40 mm
- tuna gill nets - 60 mm
The Gambia does not make use of closed seasons no TAC in its
fisheries management. Industrial fishing vessels are monitored
through regular patrols by the Gambia Navy to enforce
regulations. For the purpose of resources management and to
reduce conflict between the industrial and artisanal fishing
fleets, fisheries waters of the Gambia have been delineated into
7- and 12-nautical-mile fishing areas. No industrial fishing
vessel is allowed to fish within the 7-n.m. limit, which is
fished by artisanal fishers with environmentally friendly
fishing techniques. The grounds between 7 and 12 n.mi. are
fished by vessels up to 250 GRT capacity, and beyond the 12-n.m.
to the EEZ boundary is open to all licensed vessels
Resource management efforts are also to place special emphasis
on: the shrimp fishery (its biology, population, dynamics,
potential, current level of exploitation, measures to ensure
sustainability and profitability); aquaculture development (fish
pond culture, oyster culture, shrimp farming); protection of the
aquatic environment (water bodies, mangroves and nursery
areas/habitats, protection against pollution); studies on the
resource potentials (feasibility of development of freshwater
fishery); study on impact of granting access of foreign fishing
vessels and, study on plankton abundance and distribution as
source of food for fish.
Shrimp fisheries:
There are great economic and social benefits associated with the
estuarine shrimp fisheries, including employment and income for
large numbers of rural families and processing workers, as well
as significant foreign exchange earnings. Little information
exists on the shrimp fisheries stock. However, observations of
shrimp catches by artisanal fishermen reveals a high proportion
of juvenile shrimps, which seems to suggest high fishing
pressure and the possible use by (fishermen) of stow nets of
small mesh size. The immediate task is to conduct a
comprehensive assessment of the oceanic and estuarine shrimp
stocks in order to know their potentials and to determine
optimum exploitation levels.
Government management measures include strict enforcement on the
use of recommended mesh size (50 mm for shrimp trawlers and 25
mm for stow nets), and establishment of industrial shrimp
farming with an emphasis on the breeding of the local shrimp. A
new company West African Aquaculture Limited has purchased the
assets of Scan-Gambia Shrimp Limited. The infrastructure has
been rehabilitated and new equipment and machinery installed
both at the hatchery and at the farm and are operational. The
company is breeding indigenous shrimp species (the pink shrimp).
An important element of shrimp fisheries is community-based
management, including rule-making, arbitration and conflict
resolution. Rules are applied in these communities regarding
exclusive rights to fish a certain area by an individual
fisherman. These users' rights are obtained by placement of an
anchor by the fishermen themselves at preferred fishing spots.
The value of the rights is indicated by the fact that they can
be sold, inherited or leased. Thus they are transferable and
exclusive to the owner. Conflicts are rare among shrimp
fishermen and when they arise they are usually resolved among
the fishermen themselves, or arbitrated with the help of village
authorities, elderly shrimpers or a combination.
Pelagic fish Species Biomass: 1992
Flat sardinella 10,000 metric tons
Round sardinella 70,000 metric tons
Horse mackerel 80,000 metric tons
The Biomas estimates for demersal fish is:
Grouper 130 metric tons
Grunts 9,600 metric tons
Croakers 400 metric tons
Seabreams 9,200 metric tons
Carangids 5,400 metric tons
Dories 250 metric tons
Cephalopods 940 metric tons
Total losses in fish, caused by spoilage are estimated at 10 to
12 million tonnes per year, accounting to 10% of the total
production.
MAIN FISHERIES REGULATIONS
The Fisheries Act 1991 (a revision of the Fisheries Act 1977)
and the Fisheries Regulations 1995 (a revision of the Fisheries
Regulations 1978) constitute the legal instruments for
regulations and control of activities under the sector. The
revisions were necessitated by the observation that the
circumstances under which the 1977 Fisheries Act and the 1978
Fisheries Regulations were promulgated changed significantly in
the 1980s. Specifically, there was a significant growth in both
local and foreign industrial fishing of high-value species, as
well as an increased instances of illegal fishing in Gambian
waters.
The legal framework for concerted public-sector intervention in
the fisheries sector is provided under the Fisheries Act of 1991
and the supporting Fisheries Regulations 1995. The Fisheries Act
and Fisheries Regulations provide a framework for harmonizing
private and public roles in the development of the fisheries
sector and they also assist the Department in technical aspects
of the implementation of the fisheries management plan.
The Fisheries Act 1991
The cluster of issues addressed in the Fisheries Act 1991
concern territorial and zonal boundaries, nationality criteria
for Gambian vessels, appointment of agents, control over the
import of fishing vessels, requirement for storage of fishing
gear, subscription to standardization of vessel marking scheme
as proposed by FAO, and associated penalties. Fisheries access
agreements are also treated in the act and, in addition to being
subject to normal conditions of license, foreign fishing vessels
may be subjected to other controls and conditions aimed at the
protection and conservation of resources and the promotion of
infrastructural development, training and research.
The Fisheries regulations 1995
The main issues addressed in the Fisheries Regulations 1995
include conservation measures, aquaculture, and export of fish.
Restricted zones have been more clearly defined, giving
latitudes and longitudes; and fishing gear restrictions defined,
including a ban on the use of the beach seine, setting of gill
nets around Dog Island, and maintaining minimum mesh sizes for
industrial operations, in order to conserve the fish resources.
Licensing for aquaculture operations are to enhance biodiversity
and to take account of prospects for commercial development. All
aquaculture and fish processing establishments must - before an
operating permit is issued - provide a detailed feasibility
study that covers all aspects of their operations, including
sources of supplies, construction, quality control measures,
management and financial analysis.
PRESENT ROLE OF FISHERIES IN THE NATIONAL ECONOMY OF GAMBIA
The fisheries sub-sector contributes approximately 12% to the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Within the food production sector,
fisheries ranks third after crops and livestock, with an average
annual contribution of 2.4%. The artisanal fisheries sub-sector
provides direct and indirect employment to an estimated 25-30
000 people and the industrial sub-sector provides employment to
between 1 500 and 2 000 people. The sector contributes about 13%
annually to government revenue. The national fish per caput
consumption average is 25 kg but it is as low as 9 kg in the
inland areas, as fish consumption is highest in coastal areas
where fish production is high.
INVESTMENTS IN FISHERIES
The Government has played a significant role in the development
of artisanal fisheries, with donor assistance. However,
private-sector investment in the industrial fisheries sector has
been minimal due to lack of finance, as most commercial banks
are reluctant to give loans for fisheries activities. Among the
major investments in the industrial fisheries sector is the
African Development Bank loan to the Government of the Gambia
for Fisheries Development with a component to build a fisheries
port in the capital city of Banjul. This will enable foreign
vessels to land their catches in the Gambia as required by the
fisheries licensing regulations. There are new fishing companies
being formed, but they have yet to construct onshore facilities,
and the existing companies are operating below capacity because
they rely mostly on supply from artisanal fishermen..
The Government put in place an incentive system for the
fisheries sector (subject to review) that included duty waiver
on fishing inputs with foreign exchange components; duty waiver
on fish exports; and import tax waiver on plant and equipment.
The privilege of duty-free fuel for the fisheries sector was
suspended in 1994.
In 2001, the estimated artisanal fish production was 32016
tonnes, of which 948.8 tonnes was exported and the balance
(31067.2 tonnes) was consumed domestically. For the projection
of fish demand and supply for the next 25 years (see Table 2),
parameters used were 4% population increase, 5% fish production
increase, 3% increase in fish exports and 2% more fish imports.
Mostly from:
www.fao.org/fi/fcp/en/GMB/BODY.HTM
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