By Kebba AF Touray
The Minister of Justice Dawda Jallow Tuesday told members of the National Assembly that approximately two hundred thousand (200,000) people are dependent on fish and related activities.
The Minister said this while laying the Protocol Amending the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidiaries of 7 June 2022. The Protocol was meant to be ratified by the lawmakers as the Justice Minister appeared before the legislative house on behalf of the Fisheries Minister.
“The Gambia’s artisanal sub-sector employs between 250,000 to 30,000 people while about 2000 work in the industrial sub-sector. The livelihoods of an estimated 200,000 people are indirectly dependent on the fish and related activities,” the witness said.
The Minister said for women in particular, fish processing and marketing provide an important source of income and livelihood support. He added that it is estimated that 80 percent of fish processors and 50 percent of small scale fish traders are women.
He explained that the negotiations have been ongoing since 2021 and was launched at the Doha Ministerial conference with a mandate to initially clarify and improve on WTO discipline in fisheries.
In 2005, the Minister said at the Hong Kong Ministerial conference, the mandate was further explained with a call for prohibition on certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and over fishing, and that in 2017, at the 11th WTO Ministerial conference, agreed to work towards a program with a possible delivery of an agreement on fisheries subsidies by 2019.
“Henceforth, the numerous debates and discussions have been tabled by developed and developing countries in the committee on rules negotiation. The adoption of this agreement at the WTO Ministerial conference (MC12) on the 17th June 2022 marks a major step forward for ocean sustainability by prohibiting harmful fisheries subsidies, which are key factors in the widespread depletion of the world’s fish stocks,” he said.
He said the justifications for the agreement, include that according to the 2016 UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Report on the state of the world’s fisheries and aquaculture, both fisheries and aquaculture remain an important source of food, nutrition, income and livelihood for 100s of millions around the world.
“The report also shows that in 2016, developing countries accounted for more than half of the fish exports. This clearly indicates that developing countries hold a greater share of the fisheries market compared to the developed economies,” he said.
He said the sector creates jobs, generates value added goods by producing processed products. He stated that the data from FAO indicated that fish are at risk of collapsing in many parts of the world due to exploitation. He said it is estimated that 34 percent of global stock are overfished compared with 10 percent in the late 1970s.
“This means that the global fish stock is being exploited at a pace with which the fish population cannot replenish itself. Declining fish stock threatening to worsen poverty and endanger communities that rely on captured fisheries for their livelihoods and food security,” he said.
He said the Gambia has relatively a short coastline of about 80 kilometers but is endowed with abundant fisheries resources with diverse fish species in its territorial waters.
“The Fisheries sector contributes approximately 12 percent of the Gross Domestic Product over the past five year. Fisheries continue to be among the key drivers of growth in the country’s productive sector”, he said.
The government, he said, has recognised the importance of the sector and as such it has been identified as a priority sector within the context of the new green recovery focused national development plan 2023-2028. The Minister said the sector is a critical entry point and a key stimulus for poverty alleviation, as it provides a source of revenue and foreign exchange earnings for the country.
“The sector is the third largest food provider after agriculture and livestock and plays a significant role from a nutritional stand point. Fish is the main source of the animal protein in the diet of most Gambians. Fish and fisheries activities also provide income to the poor and represent the main source of income for coastal fishing communities, and are an important complement activity and safety net for the inland rural communities,” he said.
Lawmakers ratified the agreement, stating that once it is enacted, it will become a binding framework demanding other countries to protect the country’s water resources in collaboration with the Gambia. Lawmakers also stated that once the agreement will help to address the problems of illegal and irregular fishing activities and practices on the Gambia’s waters.
