By Modou Kanteh
The Minister of Fisheries has imposed administrative fines on nearly ten fishing vessels arrested in April for infringements of the Fisheries Act.
The Minister of Fisheries, Hon Musa Drammeh, acting under the powers conferred on him by the Fisheries Act, slammed fines on nine fishing vessels on 23rd June 2023, after a consultative committee meeting to examine the nature of the offences committed by the vessels.
In June, Hon Drammeh approved the consultative committee meeting and the recommendations of the committee were sent to him, which he reviewed the same day and imposed administrative fines as per the Fisheries Act.
The vessels, arrested and fined, were Al Sidrah, Sama Ans El, Alfarouq, Zherui, Majilac 5, Majilac 6, Fengkai 011, Superfly01, and Superfly 04. The vessels were further issued with warning letters.
Meanwhile, the consultative committee deferred the cases of Superfly 2 and 3, pending the conclusion of an inquiry into their cases on suspicion of pollution.
Al Sidrah, Alfaroug, and Sama Ans El as first offenders were each fined D750,000.00 and issued warning letters. Majilac 5, Majilac 6, Superfly 01, and Superfly 04 were each fined D1m and issued warning letters. A D1.5m fine was imposed on Fengkai 011 while GMD5,000,000.00 fine was slammed on Zherui.
The Fisheries Minister has already sent a letter to the Director of Fisheries for further action.
According to Section 97 Subsections 3 and 4 of the Fisheries Act, any vessel involved in infringement can opt for a court or out-of-court settlement within 30 days.
The nine fined companies chose to settle the matter out-of-court.
