By: Nyima Sillah
Omar Gaye, the PRO of the Artisanal Fisheries Association Gambia has justified the bycatch incident that happened at the Sanyang fish landing site on the 16th of April and reported on the 17th of April.
The incident caused a lot of debate on social media as many associated it with the exploitation of marine resources.
Justifying this incident in a recent interview with The Voice, Mr. Gaye said the cause of the death of those fish was due to an accident in a boat while fishing around 6 pm and it was carrying over 700 boxes of fish caught.
“This amount resulted in turning the boat upside down which caused the death of many fish but the fish were collected before early morning.”
He stressed that at times the information received at the landing sites is misguided, adding that the issue of the Sanyang beach was indeed an accident and nothing else.
He added that concerning the fish, people saw died at the landing sites has to do with the bad water in the river which is often not good for the fish, noting this happens but not always.
“Another thing is that sometimes the boat that goes fishing can have so many fish for the factory or landing site and if the factory or fish vendors cannot take all the fish caught, those fish will be poured into the river, and when that is done, it will float on comes to the landing site,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he said they face some abnormality at the landing site since the controllers that should control them are not present at the landing sites. This is because they lack empowerment from the Ministry of Fisheries to have their own rules and regulations that will guide them.
He argued that for an association to function it must be centered on terms and conditions and this should be in line with the laws of fisheries.
Mr. Gaye suggested that there should be a card pool provided to all poor persons venturing into the sea so that it will be very easy to trace others who are not recognized.
