The government further announced April 1-30 as the duration of the ban on exports by major fishing companies “to protect our fish stock from depletion”, said a statement from the Fisheries Ministry.

“All industrial fishing companies should stock their fish in cold rooms … during the period of closure,” Minister of Fisheries Emma Kowa Jalloh later told journalists.

She informed her entourage and hosts at various fish depots across the country that West African states of Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone lost about $2.3 billion (more than 2.1 billion Euros) a year from 2010 to 2016 due to illegal and undeclared fishing, according to the Greenpeace environmental group.

Sierra Leone National Fishermen Consortium chairman Alpha Sheku Kamara accused China and Korea of destroying stocks. He added: “We are happy that the government has declared a close on fish exporting by industrial fishing companies,” he informed journalists at the bustling Tombo fishing community outside the capital Freetown.

“Industrial fishing boats from China and Korea are destroying our nets and also depleting the fish stock,” he said, adding, “We are calling on the government to effectively enforce the ban with surveillance.”