Fisheries Ministry Bags $200M

The Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources, which has recently been identified as having the capacity of championing the nation’s bread basket in terms of potential and revenue collection, has bagged a total of $200 million to help the Ministry and country realize and benefit from its huge marine potential that was being lost to poachers and series of illegal fishing activities.

The sources say it will be implemented within a five year period by the Government of Sierra Leone with funding from World Bank and the Global Environment Facility Change; the package will include the tenacious management of both the industrial and artisanal fishing industry

The funding according to Ministry sources will be used to execute four main components in the Sierra Leone Fishing Industry that include Resource Management in the Industry, the Reduction of Poaching and Illegal Fishing activities in the country’s waters and to add value to the country’s marine products, all in a bid to opening the international market to the nation’s fisheries products that have been banned from the American and European Markets for a long time now.

Ministry Officials say they government has contacted UK Marine Consultancy, MacAlister Elliott & Partners to assist in the development of an operational manual for the implementation of a $200 million project that is geared towards rescuing the nation’s marine potential that has been in the dark all these years.

The appointment of Haja Afsatu Kabbah as Minister of the Marine & Fisheries Ministry has seen the emancipation of the fishing industry in the country which ran on bad terms for more than a decade now. Civil society heads in the country have lauded the efforts of the Minister as proactive and thumbed her up for a continued goodwill towards the development of the now most coveted sector in ensuring the country’s development.

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