The Gambia is organized into Local Government Areas (LGA), with each of them having similar boundaries or extent in space with standing administrative units (Area, Municipal and City Councils). The city of Banjul and Kanifing, which are the main urban LGAs, are City and Municipal Councils, respectively.
The establishment of City, Municipal and Area Councils (which are together referred to as Local Government Areas) is sanctioned by an Act of the National Assembly. The geographical boundary of each LGA is determined by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
An Act of the National Assembly makes provision for the functions, powers and duties of Local Government Authorities, including provision for infrastructure and development of the area within the authority’s jurisdiction; the encouragement of commercial enterprises; participation of the inhabitants in the development and administration of the area; essential and other services to be provided by the authority; raising of local revenue and the management, control and oversight of the authority’s finances and the audit of its accounts by the Auditor-General.
Status of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Local Government Areas
Local Government Areas (LGAs) in The Gambia play significant contributing role in the development and sustainability of the fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors in The Gambia. These contributions are usually provided indirectly which can include support to fisher folks through the provision of markets and storage facilities.
There are currently several fish landing sites within the eight LGAs which are either directed supported by the LGAs or in partnership with the Department of Fisheries and other stakeholders. The construction of Brikama fish market, for instance, which was funded within the framework of the Japanese grant, is providing market for the sale of fresh and quality fish in a healthy environment by improving the conditions of fish retail markets in Brikama and its neighboring areas.
The fish market has a market hall with office space, fish handling yard, a chill room and cooler boxes. It also provides fish boxes for fish storage and an ice-making machine for the conservation of fish and fisheries products. It is currently run by the Department of Fisheries in collaboration with Brikama Area Council, who provide cleansing services to maintain a healthy and hygienic environment. The facilities and equipment provide better and more profitable distribution of fish products of good quality by reducing the post-harvest losses.
It provides market for fish landing sites in Tanji, Sanyang, Gunjur, Kartong and Tujereng. The construction of the Brikama fish market is significantly contributing to the reduction of post-harvest fish loses which has been and continues to affect the country’s fisheries industry.
Equally, Bakoteh fish market and ice plant in the Kanifing Municipality was financed by the government of The Gambia and the African Development Bank to provide the much needed space and storage facilities for fish and fisheries products.
However, in all the LGAs, aquaculture activities are not practiced as sea fishing. Aquaculture is usually a private engagement and its limited practice is either due to lack of technical knowhow or resources to invest in the area.
Section 71 (1) (a)-Sub-section (c) of the Local Government Act 2002 mandated Councils to be responsible for the control, development and sustainable management of fisheries resources within their areas of jurisdiction. However, the Central government oversees the activities of the Councils through the governance department of the Ministry of Lands and Regional Government (MoLRG). The Councils are directly under the supervision of the Local Government Authority, headed by Chairpersons or Mayors. By the dictate of the LG Act 2002, 25% of the development budget of the Councils should be funded by the Central government which has not been forthcoming.
Today, sea fishing -including industrial fishing- which is largely dominated by mostly fishermen from the neighboring Senegal and Chinese companies is more practiced than aquaculture.
There is at least one fishing site in each of the eight Local Government Administrations in The Gambia. However, fishing activities are not directly administered by the LGAs. They usually play stakeholder role and provide financial and material support where needed.
In 2016, Banjul City Council (BCC) in partnership with the City of Oostende in Belgium built an Ice plant at the Banjul beach. The plant is currently running and providing ice for the community and the fisher folk in Banjul to prevent fish spoilage.
In their annual budgetary allocations, Local Government Areas have special budgets to support agriculture, which include crop and fish farming. However, a good chunk of their agricultural budgets are directed to crop farming.
Kerewan Area Council, for instance, has included activities in their 2021 strategic plan to conduct mapping of all the existing fish landing sites in the North Bank Region (NBR) and to identify other potential sites if necessary. This is aimed at upgrading the landing infrastructures and improve the condition of the access roads to the sites and in addition, to provide support to the fishermen/women through the established fishing groups in the form of fishing boats, engines, nets and provide them with the required extension services.
The Council also plans to construct fish markets (at least one for the region) and the locations to be determined after due consideration of the strategic location and its potential to be of high commercial value and provide cold storage facilities within the premises of the markets.
This is equally a strategic target of all the Local Government Areas in the country to promote both fishing and aquaculture activities in their respective LGAs. This will allow for, particularly women and youth to involve in gainful ventures in the fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors to address the high rate of unemployment and provide the much needed fish and fisheries resources to the people.
However, none of the Local Government Areas in the country have investment plans or budgetary lines for fisheries and aquaculture activities and there are no offices within these LGAs that represent the department of fisheries at the technical advisory committee level.
There are vast virgin swamp lands in each of the LGAs that are not under maximum exploitation. These can be used for aquaculture activities. In the Central River Region for instance, there are several communities whose main activity is fishing; for both income earning and consumption.
Currently, a local organisation call Fandema, under its entity call Mboolo Association is providing support to several fishing sites in the CRR and many other regions. They facilitate their easy access to ice blocks to keep their fish fresh and provide young people with tricycles to ease marketing and other activities.
Through the Association’s support, women and young people in Sinchu Njugari, Sinchu Alagie, Kumbagnie and Kudang Tenda in CRR and Jurunku in the NBR can now keep their fish and fisheries products fresh for days with the provision of deep freezers and mobility for marketing.
Since there is no much, if any, officers with technical expertise in fisheries and aquaculture development stationed at the LGAs, the establishment of partnerships with institutions and organisations that have the technical know-how in these sectors will be crucial. This will boost the Councils’ revenue generation and provide some control mechanism on responsible utilization of our marine resources while creating job opportunities for youth and women.
Key challenges and gaps constraining the development of fisheries and aquaculture in the LGAs
One of the most important natural resources that Gambia has is the sea. This is exploited at various LGA levels to provide fish food, irrigation for agricultural production -mainly rice and fuel wood. On daily basis, Gambians consume and make use of tones of sea products.
Within all the LGAs, particularly in the urban areas, fishing for local and export processing face key challenges of increased illegal fishing, poor surveillance of the fisheries resources in the high seas, unsustainable number of commercial fishing licenses, declining landed catches, and high cost of energy needed for processing. LGAs provide annual budgetary allocation to agriculture but they mostly have limited or no investment mechanism in the fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors. This is causing constraint as there is limited or no sustainability mechanism to maintain some of the fish landing sites.
There is no fisheries and aquaculture representation in the LGAs and no association related to fisheries and aquaculture is registered with the Councils. There are usually constructions of private fish ponds without consultation with the LGAs who are the custodians of regional strategic plans.
The domination of the sea by non-Gambians, including ownership of fishing boats and processing plants and the limited access to funding for the sustainable provision of adequate raw materials by indigenous Gambians particularly women and youth continue to post challenges for the development of the industry within all the LGAs.
Fish spoilage is also a major problem, especially during peak fishing seasons with huge post-harvest losses which reduce values of fish and fish products. Large quantities of fish are sometimes returned to the sea or at landing sites mainly due to lack of affordable and reliable sources of supply of ice, cold storage facilities and limited processing capacity.
Transport and working capital and access to financing remain major constraints of fish traders and processors. Lack of appropriate fish handling, smoking and drying facilities, access to markets, high cost of transport, are also part of the constraints. One major problem of fish retailing at both landing sites and within main local markets is the use of old and unhygienic refrigerators to store fish during marketing.
Recommendations for addressing challenges and gaps
There are multifaceted challenges that are impeding the development of the fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors in The Gambia. Addressing these challenges require multi-dimensional approach from government, Local Government Areas, private institutions and individuals.
There is need for intervention to ensure availability of quality supply of fish for nutrition and support food security initiatives, enhance small business enterprises and improve the supply chain.
To achieve this, it is critical for both government and LGAs to provide cold storage and ice production facilities at strategic points to maintain enough quality fish supplies along the distribution chain.
Fish landing sites also need to be upgraded in basic infrastructure and facilities. This will ensure proper hygiene operations and meet food quality and safety standards for domestic consumption and the export market. Since most of the fish landing sites are without reliable supply of clean water and appropriate sanitation facilities, there is need to have such installations for improved hygienic operations and ensure safety of products.
Councils are the entry point for all regional developments which is captured in the Local Government Act 2002 and usually highlighted in the Strategic Development Plans (SDP) of the Councils. It is a general recommendation of the LGAs for fishermen to have official files with them.
Equally, Councils operate on PBB (where all programs and activities should be captured for sustainability of the projects within the LGAs). Fisher folks are directly extracting the natural resources of the LGAs e.g. river. In this respect, if they are registered with the Councils they can be provided with fishing materials and other opportunities as grants.
A joint public and private sector involvement and investment in both fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors should be encouraged. LGAs, the Department of Fisheries and the government should all apply increased training for youth and women in the fisheries and aquaculture sub-sectors and provide them with starting capital to re-claim the industry from external domination.
Amadou Jallow is a Journalist, youth and child empowerment and community development advocate. He is currently studying Human Resource Management at Management Development Institute (MDI). He is a Program and Communication Officer for Gambia Association of Local Government Authorities (GALGA). Contact: 7786848/3660150 Email: youthhits@gmail.com
