It is fact that the small village of Tombo on the Freetown peninsula is a centre of artisanal fishing in Sierra Leone. Between 500 and 600 fishermen use the Tombo Harbour to go to sea everyday. These men provide fish for markets in the local area, in Freetown and beyond, as well as a source of food for their families. There is no doubt that this industry creates a source of income, and a source of food, enough to support the whole community.
Fisherman Ibrahim Sorie said that lower fish yields and an increase in fuel prices is making it more difficult for fishermen to make a living. This force many fishermen to quit the fishing and opt for alternate living. They complain that the industrial trawlers are encroaching on their fishing grounds, depleting fish stocks and making work more difficult for local fishermen by forcing them further out to sea.
According to master fisherman Pa Amadu ‘Seaport’ Kamara there are not the same numbers of fish today as there was before. He added that the trawlers catch everything, throw away the small fish, keep the larger ones, and destroy the fish stocks for the country. He told that Sierra Leone relies on artisanal fishing to provide the largest single and cheapest source of animal protein to its people. It provides perhaps the most important single source of food, employment and revenue for the government, at about 10 percent of the gross domestic product of the country.
Abdul Mahmoud Koroma, head of the Sierra Leone Artisanal Fisheries Union in Tombo, told that the government is not doing enough to enforce current regulations that protect artisanal fishermen. Mohamed Sheriff Director of Fisheries in Sierra Leone admits that the Insure Exclusion Zone is being protected, but acknowledges there have been some illegal fishing practices.
Mohamed Kargbo, the chairman of the local court Barrie, is concerned that young children are engaging themselves in artisanal fishing industry. He said that artisanal fishing can also be a dangerous profession and accidents do happen.
