By: Amara Kargbo 

The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources with its mandate to promote responsible fishing,  revenue generation and  providing affordable animal protein for the population in the country has scaled up its production and industrial processing of fisheries and other marine products to promote the FEED Salone initiative for food and Nutrition Security and job creation.

The Head of Division of Component Authority and Fish Quality Assurance, Josephus Mamir, highlighted these significant measures that the ministry will implement, at the ongoing Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Discussion in the Ministry of Finance.

Josephus Mamie explained on the Fisheries Strategic Objectives for 2024 to 2028 that, to deliver the youth employment scheme and human capital development among the BigGame changers of Government Agenda fisheries sector is key to for the delivery of the FEED Salone which will equally presents a competitive business environment that will permit increased fish production from 150,000 metric tons to over 200,000 tons per annum.

He analyzed the socio-economic context that the fisheries sector contributes about 12% to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of Sierra Leone economy, and about 45% total of the annual fish  production is sold in local markets in Sierra Leone, providing animal protein source for over 80% of the Sierra Leone population.

The underlined that the strategy for 2024 is financial consolidation for food security, revenue generation aligned with the Medium Term Development Plan (MTNDP) to diversify the country economy through sustainable fisheries management for wealth creation which is also in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 14.

The Ministry will effectively implement strategic policies to improve the legal and management framework that promotes responsible fisheries governance and sustainable exploitation of fisheries resources, develop and promote agriculture to commercial level and improve export earning and generate more resources from the fisheries sector by ensuring European markets certification for value added exportation on the court fish and fisheries sector.

Josephus Mamie also mentioned that the ministry intends to construct Fish Harbour and its ancillary facilities to create more wealth from the fisheries sector through effective monitoring and improved licensing scheme of Quota and total allowable catches. Between 2024 to 2028, the ministry will ensure that the licensing system for trawlers will be based on the quality of fish that trawlers catch, instead of the size of the fishing vessel.