By Landing Colley
Tanji town and its surrounding communities are suffering from the shortage of fish as dozens of fishermen stranded in the neighboring country, Senegal due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking for the communities in an exclusive interview with The Voice, Lamin Bojang said “the reason for the shortage of fish is due to this pandemic, since the start of Covid-19 it has badly affected all business especially the fishing industry.”
He said the lockdown met many of the fishermen in Senegal when they went for ‘Koriteh’ holiday, while “some available Gambian fishermen lack fishing materials.”
“We have about sixty boats that normally go for fishing but out of those sixty boats, twenty will come with fish but demand for fish are more than the suppliers,” he added.
According to him, this is the first time in history “we have seen a basket of fish costing D2, 500 that is why the price of fish in the market is expensive.”
He however added that more than 40 Chinese vessels are also contributing to the shortage of fish. He, therefore, called for the intervention of the government to address the influx of the Chinese vessels in the country’s ocean.
He also called on the government to help the Gambians youth with boat and fishing material as there are some of the youth that are willing to engage in fishing.
Haddy Ndow, a fish dealer lament that “We are very tired and worried because the country is getting so hard and dozens of fishermen are stranded in Senegal due to the COVID-19, and the fishermen here are not many which has caused high-cost price of fish.”
She also argued that the Chinese vessels are also contributed to the shortage of fish in the ocean.
She urged the government to close deals with the Chinese while calling on the youth of the Gambia to engage in fishing business while government should invest in fishing to develop the country.
Mariama Manja Jibril sarr, Adama Manneh Barrow and other fish dealers sounded the same concern, as shortage of fish in Tanji town has caused a great alarm for all the fish dealers across the Gambia.
