Russian Fishing Vessels Trespass On Gambian Waters!   

Gambia Navy Says Due To Lack Of Fuel Foreign Fishermen Couldn’t Be Confronted!

Fresh scandal - local fisherman complain

By An Insider

Pa,

How are you? I hope you are doing fine. I have not been able to communicate much lately because I got the feeling that I have been watched by the security forces and that my phones was being tapped.

The newest big scandal in town is the following:

The whole fishing community in The Gambia is complaining because there are about 10 to 14 Russian vessels of 100 meters plus that fish unlicensed in The Gambia sea during the night. They seem very confident and fish up to a few hundred meters from the beaches where as vessels of this size normally can only start fishing 9 to 12 miles out of the coast.

During the day,  they fish in the Casamas region - they have Senegalese license on their vessels. The case has been reported to the Ministry of Fisheries and to the Navy who got their coordinates and positions but up til now there is no action from the authorities to arrest the said vessels for illegal fishing. The vessels are so big and they catch so much that the other stake-holders (who paid their licenses and are authorized by the government to fish) catch 50 to 60% less. The local fisherman cannot even pay their fuel after they have made a trip. The local price of fish is also getting higher by the hour because of bad catches. The Russians freeze everything on board of their vessels and extort it after landing it in Spain, Dakar, or Guinea Conakry.

The question is: Why is The Gambian Government allowing the theft of the country’s resources ? Who is protecting the Russians to get away with this ? There must be some high powered individuals close to the corridors of power or even the main man himself who allowed this otherwise nobody in his right sense of mind will just steal a country’s resources.

Bottom line (again) is that the man in the street is losing and that operators who operate legally cannot make it. Corruption, corruption and corruption and in the end we all die of hunger and no legitimate investor will put a dalasi into the economy of The Gambia.

Please publish this and help us to protect the resources of The Gambian people!!!!! If these people leave,  it might take 6 months before the stock of fish is back to workable levels.

Persons to contact for  the story:

- Nfamara J. Dampha - Director of fisheries - XXXX
- Minister of Fisheries, Water resources & NAM - Amadou Saine  XXXX

- The Gambian Navy - Adama Trawally -XXXX      
- I have asked several people in The Gambia - Fishermen stake-holders - to talk to you but to no avail. I have a Senegalese operator which is buying a lot of fish from Gambian fisherman who might be willing to talk based on anonymity (XXX)
- Office of the president - statehouse
General Information Line: (220)-4223811
Secretary-General:  (220)-4228917 or (220) 4228933
Chief of Protocol:  (220)-4201530 or (220) 4200400 
Director of Press/Public Relations: (220) 4223851 or (220) 4226696
- Association of artisanal fisheries - Dawda Saine -  XXX

Good luck with the story and thank you for protecting our motherland.

Editor’s note:  Thanks Sir for the vital information.  When contacted for comments, an insider at the Gambia Navy said he is not aware of the ten Russian vessels illegally fishing in our waters. The insider however stated that the only case he was aware of  was one Russian vessel spotted in our waters sometimes  in December,  but due to lack of fuel they couldn’t pursue the trespassing fishermen.

“ We spotted them fishing in our waters just along the demarcation line near the Southern province of Casamance.  Due to lack of fuel, we couldn’t pursue them. We are aware of the situation, but due to national security issues we cannot discuss the matter publicly,” said the Navy insider.

When the phone number purportedly featuring Nfamara J. Dampha, the  Director of fisheries was dialed, the person who answered the phone said it was a wrong number. The person said he works at the Gambia College as a lecturer.  The alternate number was dialed, but no one answered the phone.

For his part Dawda Saine, the representative of the Association of Artisanal Fisheries said the story was news to him.  He said he will try to get in touch with the relevant authorities to authenticate the story.

Mr. Saine said the only fishing case he remembers was the recent dumping of dead fish along the Gambian shores by some foreign fishermen. He said the story was featured on national television.

                      Analysis  

It’s disheartening to learn that the Gambian Navy is faced with logistical problems. The Navy should be properly equip  to be able to police our territorial waters. How can such an important unit of our armed forces be economically starved ? Or are our Marine soldiers abusing the logistics allocated to them by the state?  

It’s not our wish to see the Navy command fired, but the excuse that fuel problems is preventing them from confronting trespassing illegal foreign fishermen is absurd so to speak.  The Navy should preserve our waters from external exploitation for heaven sake.

Our source’s story has been corroborated by the Navy insider who admitted that a similar Russian vessel was spotted in our sea sometime in December of last year.  It appears that there are some powerful folks in Banjul benefiting from this illegal trade. 

We know for a fact that illegal fishing is the quickest way of getting money in the Gambia. There were instances in which  foreign vessels were caught fishing in our waters only to be let go after bribing millions to corrupt Marine agents and judicial officials in the Gambia.