By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR), Princess Dugba has spoken of her ministry’s plan to scale up and improve commercial industrial and artisanal fisheries development to generate state revenue.
Minister Dugba while signing her ministry’s performance contract with President Julius Maada Bio said the President specified detailed outcomes to which they are expected to contribute to for the long-term development of Sierra Leone.
She also said that they are expected by the President to achieve key outcomes which include a well- maintained fish biomass, international sanitary certification for fishery products, sustainable exploitation of fish resources and promotion of inland fisheries and aquaculture.
Dugba said come December 2024, the ministry’s core functions and the President’s priorities will be to support industrial fisheries via construction of one industrial fish harbor at Black Johnson area and to make onshore processing facilities operational by private sectors.
She added that they will support artisanal fisheries through the development of artisanal fisheries policy and related programmes implemented and will increase State revenue from the fisheries sector through sanitary European Union (EU) certification that could see the export of fish and fishery products to EU and the securing of other markets.
She highlighted plans to reduce illegal fishing in the artisanal and industrial sectors through development and reviews of Acts, policies and strategies for required compliance including EU compliance implementation for lifting of the yellow card.
Dugba went on to say that the ministry will establish a functional Sierra Leone Fishing Operation Agency.
She pointed out that if they receive the required resources for the ministry, they will improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in 5 Wharfs at Tombo landing stations and improve the lives of 400,000 (four hundred thousand) children and other people whilst also ensuring hygiene requirements for export of fish to international markets.
She noted that the ministry will improve hygiene and sanitation in five main landing sites (Big Wharf, Peppel wharf, Small wharf, Kasi Wharf and New Town Wharf) at Tombo with the objective of reducing the risk of life threatening water -borne diseases and create a conducive environment for fish processing.
For managerial and operational efficiency, Minister Dugba affirmed that the ministry will be committed among others to improve domestic revenue generation for the ministry and its agencies to the tune of NLE 106,000,000 (one hundred and six million New Leones) and will ensure compliance with budgetary level and its regulations by 60%.
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