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 organisations.
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);
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
others 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, sea- breams, 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 & 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 prominent
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 fisher folks 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 neighbouring 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 & 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 over-exploitation, 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:
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 Biomass estimates for demersal fish is:
Grouper 130 metric tons
Grunts 9,600 metric tons
Croakers 400 metric tons
Sea breams 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 has 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, parameters used were 4% population
increase, 5% fish production increase, 3% increase in fish exports
and 2% more fish imports.
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