An Overview Of Our Solution
On the road to fisheries sustainability in the Gambia, West Africa.
Who is this solution impacting?
Ecosystem
Oceans/Coasts
Community Type
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Africa
Problem
Describe the problem
The Gambia is a small country that relies on their artisanal fishery for generation of income, employment and food production. Over 200,000 people(population of 1.5 million)are involved in the fishing sector. Fish provide the main source of animal protein for the average family(25 kg per capita). As part of the Canary Current system, the fish resources are abundant and diverse. There are many ETP species and unique ecosystems identified. The Gambia is a central destination for many of the migrating fisherman from other countries. Decades of growth in the fishery, especially in response to the current drought situation, has led to a need to develop an effective management system and fisheries management plans, both of which are especially difficult in data deficient systems.
Biodiversity Impact
In 2007, The Gambian Fisheries Development Agency(GAMFIDA) sponsored a pre-assessment of the sole fishery for ecolabeling from the Marine Stewardship Council.Sole is primarily caught by artisanal fishermen using gillnets, processed in-country and exported to the European markets. There were specific action items identified in the assessment that needed to be addressed before full certification could be achieved. In 2009, an MOU was developed between the BaNafaa project, GAMFIDA, Atlantic Seafood and the Gambian Department of Fisheries outlining how they could work together to improve the situation and move towards a sustainable fishery and obtain the ecolabel. The primary output of these activities would be a comprehensive management plan for the sole resources. The Gambia is the only country in West Africa that has legislation in place to implement a fisheries co-management system. As a result of this project, a national sole comanagement committee(NASCOM)was formed, landing site committees (LACOMS) and work was accomplished to develop vision, mission and harvesting plans for the fishery. Joint projects were also conducted to obtain data on the fish and the fishery, including the use of local knowledge. Capacity building has been conducted in support of these various activities including stock assessment, leadership, and comanagement. The fisheries management plan will be completed with formal adoption by Dec 2011. It will be the first comprehensive comanagement plan in the Gambia and includes new harvest rules such as a temporal/spatial spawning closure area.
Solution
The first step to protecting biodiversity is understanding and controlling the harvest. Our solution is threefold: The first step is the development of a co-management process that creates fisheries management plans that include biodiversity protection. Involving all stakeholders in decision making is a critical step along the path of sustainable fishing. Without buy-in from fishermen, the harvest rules imposed are often unrealistic and become unenforceable. Fisheries management plans are the first real step towards developing sustainability criteria or reference points and meaningful harvest rules. The second step is the use of MSC criteria to create a road map for the plan that includes biodiversity protection. These criteria include documenting the interaction with ETP species and other bycatch, ecosystem structure and function, evaluating impact from subsidies, research planning,data collection and management, stock assessment, control rules and management plans. The last step is to combine these previous steps with capacity building and processes to allow for long lasting results from the project. The key to the future in fisheries sustainability is to empower the agencies/committees, and fishermen to continue this work once the project is over. Knowledge,funding and support systems are in place. Management plans are living documents that require ongoing data collection and analysis, decision making and evaluation. NASCOM, with help from the Gambian partners, will continue to be responsible for these efforts with support from the partners (see #13 below). // Total artisanal fishing area (shore to 12 nm) is 228,566 hectares; sole spawning closure (shore to 1 nm) is 53,976 hectares.
Replicability
How many years has your solution been applied? 2 years // Have others reproduced your solution elsewhere? Yes // The USAID funded BaNafaa project continues until 2015. During this time, we will continue to provide advise, training and capacity building, professional expertise and help solidify a process that will be in place when the project is over. As part of the project, we also are working to guarantee that the process continues after the project ends (See #13 below). We will continue to support the development of an effective co-management committee, a strong Department of Fisheries , an empowered industry group, and an adaptive management plan for the species that are selected. The next steps involve the expansion of the jurisdiction of the sole committee to a multispecies committee by evaluating the catfish bycatch, a vulnerable species identified in the sole management plan. Catfish is the number one fish product consumed locally.
Human Well Being and Livelihood Impact
The entire population of the Gambia depends on fish as a source of food. Since fishermen from other countries also obtain fish from these waters, it becomes impossible to calculate how many people benefit from a properly managed fishery (This includes Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Ghana). Most of the export product is destined for European markets. Sole is an export product and creates income for the country. However, other species that will be affected are those that are used as staple products for the community, such as catfish, sardinella and shad. The Gambia experiences large post harvest losses (estimated at 35%) due to an inability to manage the product. This is due to to the type of gear utilized, too much product being landed, little infrastructure for ice/cooling, and lack of refrigerated trucks/roads to move product quickly. This affects not just the fishermen, but also the women processors (banabanas), industry and consumers. If a fish cannot be sold fresh at its highest nutritional value, it is often salted, dried, smoked or fermented. Effective management of the fisheries using a co-management approach can begin to address these issues and lead to more effective utilization of the resource. // Question 11. The process that was initiated for the sole fishery is being replicated within the Gambia now for other fisheries. Other countries have expressed interest in learning about this process through PARTAGE-IUCN. We will have a joint workshop in Jan 2012 with fishermen from other countries (Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, and Ghana)to discuss the process and compare bottom-up management approaches. The entire co-management process will be formalized by the government of the Gambia. NASCOM is recognized as an official co-management committee through an MOU that lays out responsibilities and duties of each partner group. The sole management plan will be formally adopted by Dec 2011. The NASCOM will apply for official non-profit status that will allow for donations and direct funding support from the project. Through efforts by the MSC, Kaufland supermarkets in Germany is currently organising a four-week campaign in over 100 of their branches with fish counters to raise awareness among their customers about sustainable fish consumption and to provide support to the Gambia artisanal sole fishery. They will donate 50 cents for every kilogram of fresh fish sold that bears the MSC label to support the Gambia sole fishery. One half of the donation will be used to apply for full certification and half of the contribution will go to other activities to directly support the fishery such as the NASCOM and data collection. The estimate of the total amount that may be raised is in the region of about 50,000 Euros.