By: Nyima Sillah
Essa Njie, a Political Science Lecturer at the University of the Gambia has glared at President Adama Barrow’s State Of Nation Address on the fisheries sector, saying part of what President Barrow read during the address was “On revenue realized in the sector from January 2022 to May 2023, D34 million was generated from landing, D83 million from licensing, and D30 million from EU support, amounting to D148 million.
“The European Union, under the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement, continues to provide the fisheries sector with D30 million Dalasi support annually. From this, D15 million Dalasi is to strengthen the sustainable management, conservation, and development of the sector, the remaining D15 million Dalasi serves as financial compensation for access.”
In an interview with him, Mr. Njie said the president’s statement on the fisheries sector in the SONA was just brief which shows that there is a lack of transparency in the fisheries sector.
“The fisheries deals that the government signed with China, European Union, and Senegal show no transparency especially when it comes to the EU aspect,” he stated.
He strongly emphasized that agreement with the European Union (EU), the three hundred and fifteen thousand euros that every EU vessel is supposed to pay to the government, plus the five hundred and fifty thousand euros that the EU is supposed to pay to the government per annum is equivalent to D30million which the president described as support.
This is not the case he said “The statement was misleading. It is not the support they are providing. This was an agreement that clearly stated that they have to pay that money to the government. The three hundred and fifteen thousand that each vessel was supposed to pay he did not mention anything on that. He just said we are accumulating over eighty million,” he breakdown.
Furthermore, Njie pointed out that the fishing agreement with Senegal is the worst deal hence the agreement between Gambia and Senegal is saying that annually each country could have 250 canoes fishing in exclusive economy zones but Senegal is tripling that number according to Amnesty International investigative report launched on the 8th June 2023.
“So, the government is failing to address the overfishing, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing activities taking place in our waters. Gambians want to know what is happening to our resources in the waters,” he contended.
He concluded that the mining activities that are taking place in the coastal settlements of Sanyang and Kartong are issues of public interest but the president did not talk about that.
