Sierra Leone loses US$30m from illegal fishing
Illegal fishing in Sierra Leone’s territorial waters is costing the country US$30 million in lost revenues annually.
The country has a coastline of 120 sq kilometers.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Dr. Soccoh Kabia over the weekend blamed the problem on lack of proper monitoring and capacity of his Ministry.
As a result, the country’s fishing industry is going through extremely difficult times, not only with huge loss being caused to the sector but the the wanton depletion of fish stocks.
NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa Development has begun to provide some assistance to the Sierra Leonean government to help improve surveillance, in order to curb the wave of illegal fishing in the country’s territorial waters.
WADR’s Freetown Correspondent Mohamed Konneh reports.
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