Gambia News : USAID fisheries project for Senegambia launched
Aug 20,2009 00:00
by
lamin
The United States Embassy, in collaboration with the University of
Rhodes Island, the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) and the Government
of the Gambia, Wednesday launched the Gambia-Senegal sustainable
fisheries project, supported by USAID.The five-year project aims to contribute to the profitability and sustainability of fisheries in the Gambia, PANA reported from here.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, American Ambassador to the Gambia, Mr. Barry L. Wells, said the fisheries sector employs more than 200,000 Gambians and contributes four per cent to GDP.
"Over the past years, fish has become the world's most extracted wildlife and the largest traded food product globally. Overfishing in marine waters continues to pose threat of depletion and exposes certain species to near extinction, coupled with destruction of ecosystem" Wells said.
He said these challenges called for bold, swift and sustained partnership to protect the judicious exploit of marine resources without depriving future generations the right to the same resources.
According to him, the Gambia-Senegal Sustainable Fisheries Project, codenamed "Ba Nafaa" (a mandinka word for marine benefit), was initiated to mitigate the effects of these challenges through integrated approach, while ensuring profitable and sustainable fisheries in the Gambia.
Gambia's Minister of Forestry and Environment, Momodou Kuto Cham, said the fisheries sector had the potential to make significant contribution to the economic and social development of the country in terms of food security and improved nutritional standards, employment generation and poverty reduction, revenue and foreign exchange earnings.
Cham also said the sector contributes to GDP and provides direct and indirect em ployment to an estimated 200,000 people, adding that this level of contribution to national socio-economic development can be increased significantly if the sector is managed and developed in a sustainable manner.
"The government of the Gambia attaches high priority to the conservation and sustainable management and utilization of the fisheries resources and government is fully committed to ensuring that the greater part of the benefits from the exploitation of the fisheries resources accrues to the Gambia and the Gambian people" he said.
He emphasised that the government was deeply concerned about a number of issues that may affect the continued availability of fisheries' resources.
According to him, these issues include the over-exploitation of the resources, illegal fishing, destructive and unsustainable fishing methods, degradation of habitats and ecosystems and other issues that mitigate against sustainable management of fisheries' resources.
According to Cham, the Gambia government recognised the fact that most of the fisheries resources of the country are also found in the waters of other countries of West Africa sub-region and therefore most of the resources are classified as " shared resources".
As a result of the shared trans-boundary nature of the fisheries resources, he said the problems impeding sustainable resources management and its use are bette r addressed sub-regionally at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
He also said this will require re-orientation of policy towards the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries resources management that requires close collaboration and cooperation among and between countries in the sub-region.
Director, International Programmes Coastal Resources Center, University of Rhodes Island, Dr. Brian Crawford, described the Gambia-Senegal sustainable fisheries project as a regional initiative supported by the American people through the USAID West Africa regional programme, locally called â?Ba Nafaaâ? and is a five year effort.
The goal of the project, he said is to support the fisheries' development objective of the government of the Gambia, including improved poverty reduction, food security, employment, income generation and export growth from the fisheries sector.
Crawford noted that these socio-economic benefits can only be achieved and sustained by promoting the effective management of the rich fisheries and protecting the associated marine biodiversity that is found in the Gambia.
The World Wildlife Fund West Africa Regional Programme Coordinator, Dr. Ibrahima Niamadio said the implementation of the Ba Nafaa project would engage a partnership which every stakeholder will be heard, a consensus built and everyone's contribution to the project captured.