{"id":40077171,"date":"2020-07-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/china-dialogue-ocean-staging.darkbluehq.com\/uncategorized\/14247-sea-shepherd-helps-the-gambia-tackle-illegal-fishing\/"},"modified":"2022-02-10T23:01:49","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T17:31:49","slug":"14247-sea-shepherd-helps-the-gambia-tackle-illegal-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/ocean\/14247-sea-shepherd-helps-the-gambia-tackle-illegal-fishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea Shepherd helps the Gambia tackle illegal fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

One night in early April, Musa Jammeh was out fishing off the Gambia\u2019s Atlantic coast when he discovered a trawler had destroyed his nets while fishing illegally.<\/p>\n

Jammeh tried to get close enough in his wooden canoe to take the vessel\u2019s registration number, so he could report the incident to the fisheries department and apply for compensation, but he and his crew were attacked and driven away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a big ship coming towards us. They pumped hot water on us so that we didn\u2019t get closer to them. You could hear dogs barking from the ship which was scary. I was really sad because I lost my net to people who do not care about us, our fish and our lives,\u201d he tells China Dialogue.<\/p>\n

Jammeh and his crew of 15 youths are unable to work until the nets are replaced: \u201cThey are all jobless now. My family is suffering so badly. We have no justice and we never expect justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Musa<\/a>

Musa Jammeh\u2019s brother and fellow fisher, Eliman Jammeh, watches other boats return to the beach with fish to sell while his brother's canoe lies idle (Image: Mustapha Manneh \/ China Dialogue)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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The incident occurred a few months after a patrol campaign by the NGO Sea Shepherd Global, in collaboration with the Gambian government. It highlighted the complex challenges the country faces in combatting illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What are the trawlers doing?<\/h2>\n

The Gambia\u2019s coastline is plagued by industrial trawlers that breach regulations to fish inside a nine-nautical-mile-wide area reserved for artisanal fishers. The trawlers are taking vast amounts of sardinella and other small pelagic species that provide a crucial source of protein.<\/p>\n

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\"piles<\/a>

Piles of small fish caught by a trawler operating illegally in a protected area off the Gambia\u2019s coast (Image \u00a9 Leon Greiner \/ Sea Shepherd)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Gambia has had a bigger problem with incursions into restricted areas than other countries we have worked with,\u201d says Peter Hammarstedt, Sea Shepherd director of campaigns. \u201cIt\u2019s ecologically important to deter illegal fishing close to the shore. It\u2019s where fish are spawning and where the biodiversity is, which is critical to artisanal fishers.\u201d<\/p>\n

As China Dialogue reported last November<\/a>, the Gambia\u2019s food security is under threat from the over-exploitation of small pelagic fish driven by the rapid growth in fishmeal processing in the sub-region. There are more than 50 factories operating along the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal, including three in the Gambia that are owned by Chinese companies.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>

The Golden Lead in Gunjur is one of three Chinese-owned fishmeal factories operating along the Gambia\u2019s short coastline (Image: The Changing Markets Foundation)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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\u201cFishmeal is one of the main drivers for IUU fishing in Gambia,\u201d says Dr Dyhia Belhabib, principal investigator, fisheries, at Ecotrust Canada. \u201cJust one trawler can have a significant negative impact on fish stocks, but the monitoring is not there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many countries in the region, the Gambia has little capacity to know what is happening on its waters. \u201cWe have a 200-mile exclusive economic zone, but the patrol vessels we have currently do not have the capacity to do the surveillance operations. They only go out for 60 miles, so they cannot protect our water,\u201d explains James Gomez, minister for fisheries and water resources.<\/p>\n

\"gambia<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGambia faces quite a challenge as its waters are surrounded by three major coastal fishing states \u2013 Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea Bissau \u2013 where there\u2019s extensive fishing activity going on. Vessels go from one state to the other and they can potentially just fish in Gambia [without permission],\u201d says Duncan Copeland, executive director of fisheries intelligence organisation Trygg Mat Tracking.<\/p>\n

To compound its difficulties, a lot of the trawlers fishing in the Gambia are licensed in neighbouring Senegal, returning to ports in that country\u2019s capital, Dakar, which has become a major hub for fishmeal processing. \u201cYou have an issue with the fisheries department and other agencies [in the Gambia] not necessarily always being familiar with how these vessels are operating,\u201d adds Copeland.<\/p>\n

Enter Sea Shepherd<\/h2>\n

In an effort to regain control of its waters, the Gambian government last year requested Sea Shepherd\u2019s help in carrying out patrol operations, following its recent direct-action campaigns in Gabon, Liberia and Tanzania.<\/p>\n

Operation Gambian Coastal Defense began in August 2019, working with sailors from the Gambia\u2019s navy and with law-enforcement agents from the fisheries department, who have been going out on patrols on Sea Shepherd vessels including the Sam Simon.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/a>

A Gambian navy sailor stands guard aboard an arrested trawler, with Sea Shepherd\u2019s Sam Simon in the background (Image \u00a9 Sea Shepherd Global)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe provide transportation to the scene of the crime. Our vessels also act as training platforms for fisheries inspectors. They go through the quantities and the amounts of different species being taken and that data all goes back to the ministry,\u201d Hammarstedt explains.<\/p>\n

Over six months, the joint patrols have yielded 16 arrests of vessels suspected of IUU fishing activities. The majority of the offences involved industrial trawlers coming inside the nine-mile-wide special management area, while others were for unlawful mesh size and finning offences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good number of arrests shows you the level of compliance [beforehand] was not high,\u201d says Charlie Kilgour, director of analysis at NGO Global Fishing Watch. \u201cThis is why the capacity lent by Sea Shepherd is really important, because without them those patrols wouldn\u2019t be happening to that level. It wouldn\u2019t work without the support of the authorities\u2026 While Sea Shepherd are there, they will have an impact,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The campaign has succeeded in drastically reducing incursions into the protected area during the patrols, says Hammarstedt.<\/p>\n

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\"Sea<\/a>

Sea Shepherd\u2019s Captain Peter Hammarstedt inspects the fish-processing area of an arrested industrial trawler (Image \u00a9 Flavio Gasperini \/ Sea Shepherd)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat we have seen in Gambia and all the countries we have worked in is that the beginning of an operation will net some arrests and a huge deterrent takes place while the patrols are there, and for some time after the patrols have stopped, the vessels aren\u2019t coming into the nine-nautical-mile zone. This allows the fish populations to start recovering,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Using remote surveillance and fisheries intelligence to track activity can change IUU fishing behaviours, says Peter Horn, director of the Ending Illegal Fishing Project at Pew Charitable Trusts.<\/p>\n

\u201cDistant-water fleets think they can act with impunity. In Gambia, they switch off their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) at night, but Sea Shepherd uses radar systems to see where the fishing activity is. You\u2019ve got to have a certain level of persistence,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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