Artisanal fishers in Sierra Leone have complained severe strain in recent months due to the intensive heat temperature in the sea and land, thereby causing a consistent fall in catches.
To secure their livelihoods lately, many artisanal fishers have turned to undersize-mesh nets, and target fish breeding and nursery grounds, disrupting the fish reproductive cycle.
This fishing method, was recently banned by government due to its lack of selectivity and tendency to bring in excessive catches of juvenile fish, which aggregate in shallow coastal waters before reaching maturity and migrating to the open sea.
At the Lumley beach fishing post, Abdul Sesay told AYV that the low catch is affecting their livelihood. He said he has been engaged in fishing because of hardship, because having a job in this country is not easy.
Abdul said: “It is from the proceeds I realised from fishing that I use to feed my family of 5 kids, a wife, my old mother and 2 kid brothers. So, whenever I go on sea and experience low catch, I do not suffer alone, but my entire family also does. We most times go to be hungry and sometimes my children and siblings will not go to school.
Artisanal fishing accounts for around 66% of the Sierra Leone’s official annual fish production.
Beach seining, diminishing harvests and economic hardship in fishing communities have also driven up destructive fishing in estuaries and coastal rivers and creeks, critical fish breeding and nursery grounds.
Manso Bangura is a boat owner and fisher at the Levuma Beach Fishing Post in Goderich. He said: “The competition is high, with more boats and fishers hunting fish in all the shores and the stocks are declining.
He said everyone now looks for a method to get at least some catch, thereby bringing into play a practice known locally as channel fishing, fishers encircle patches of river or marine shallows with undersize-mesh nets.
He said the small mesh size captures even the eggs of fishes, adding that if fishers wanted to go strictly by the mesh-size regulation introduced by the government, especially at the challenging times, they will go to sea and not find much in their nets.
He said the main issue is the excessive juvenile catch lately, coupled with the destruction of fish eggs in breeding areas, is the too much heat on sea. So according to him, most fishers prefer using the odd method of fishing on the breeding areas, which requires no boat, no fuel and less temperature.
Manso said: “Due to the sea temperature and bad fishing methods implemented lately, we have lost many species of fish in recent years and these include Bonga, Silver Fish, Butter Fish, Snapper and Barracuda.”
He called on global governments to step fast on addressing the issue of climate change and appealed to the Government of Sierra Leone to revisit its regulations on artisanal fishing, especially with the net restrictions.
