By Kemo Kanyi
Opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) leader Ousainou Darboe has outlined plans to strengthen regulation of The Gambia’s fisheries sector if his party is elected to power.
Darboe said the proposed measures would seek to ensure that foreign fishing vessels operating in Gambian waters land their catches in the country for processing and export.
Speaking on West Coast Radio, the UDP leader expressed concern over the activities of foreign trawlers and the way catches from Gambian waters were landed and processed.
He said foreign vessels would continue to be allowed to fish in Gambian waters under a UDP government, but stressed that regulations governing the landing and processing of catches would be reviewed.
“You must land your catches in The Gambia, process them here, and export,” Darboe said.
He argued that allowing catches from Gambian waters to be landed or processed in other countries could distort official statistics on the volume of fish harvested from the country’s waters.
“If you land them in Senegal and they are exported to Europe, it’s taken as being caught from Senegal. So we have to take charge and control our fisheries resources,” he said.
Darboe clarified that the proposed policy would not prevent foreigners from fishing in Gambian waters and was not intended to discriminate against Senegalese or other foreign nationals.
Instead, he said the policy would focus on ensuring that more value is added to fish catches within The Gambia.
According to Darboe, local processing of catches would create employment opportunities, particularly for young people and women who could be employed in fish-processing factories.
The UDP leader also outlined plans to develop legislation governing offshore financial and maritime-related services, including offshore banking, insurance operations, ship registration and offshore trust operations.
“We are going to make sure that those laws that do not remain in our statute are not being applied. We have to make sure that those types of services are possible in the country and can generate lots of revenue from offshore banking,” he said.
However, Darboe stressed that the introduction of such services would require strong regulatory safeguards to prevent The Gambia from being used for illicit financial activities.
He said strict regulations would be necessary to ensure that offshore operations contribute to national development while protecting the country’s financial system from economic abuse and fraud.