Africa-Press – Gambia. The Minister of Fisheries and Water Resources, Musa Drammeh, has disclosed that The Gambia is set to renegotiate its fishing deal with the European Union as the current Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) protocol is due to expire on July 30, 2025.
The agreement, which currently allows EU vessels to fish in Gambian waters, covers tuna and demersal species, with an annual contribution of around €550,000 over six years.
The EU has opened a call for evidence and evaluation in preparation for these negotiations to renew the protocol promptly after the expiration to allow continued EU fishing access.
The Gambia’s coastline is relatively short (80 km) with a small Exclusive Economic Zone, making this agreement relatively limited in scale.
There have been criticisms within The Gambia that the current deal is disadvantageous to the country, with calls for renegotiation to better protect national interests and create employment opportunities for Gambians on EU vessels.
Appearing before the Mansa-Kunda on Friday, Minister Drammeh said:“The main fisheries agreement with the European Union is still in force but the protocols governing the agreement has expired. So we cannot continue to execute the content of the agreement until fresh arrangements are made”.
Minister Drammeh added: “It is clear that most of our people and some parliamentarians felt that the amount that is still in the agreement is grossly inadequate and the European Union also feels the catch they made from our waters doesn’t commensurate with the financial support they give us, therefore both the ministry and the EU have agreed to have a rethink about the future of our relationship. That is where we are.”
He said in an attempt to provide adequate fish and create job opportunities for young Gambians, the ministry in 2024 constructed 20 artisanal fishing boats with fishing nets, motorise engines and all the required gadgets.
“They were successfully distributed along the coastal lines in Kartong, Sanyang, Tanji, Gunjur, Brufut, Banjul and other places.”
He said the ministry wants to focus more on aquaculture.
Minister Drammeh added that the ministry has reviewed its fisheries regulations in 2024 and revised all the fees by 100 and 300 percent respectively.
“All the license fees have been increased by 100 percent and the license for fish meals by 300 percent which was rigorously collected as part of revenue they share with the government,” he said.
He added that all the fishing trawlers have now been categorised as industrial and now they are only allowed to fish within 9 nautical miles instead of 7 miles.
“We have also secured funds to hire a consultant to be able to study and report on our water resources policy. The procurement process has concluded and the consultant has been appointed and given an advance payment,” he added.
The minister reported that The Gambia passed all European Union fishing guidelines and regulations.
He disclosed that recently a D23 million fine was imposed on one foreign vessel.
“We sometimes fined foreign vessels D60 to D80 million.”
The minister disclosed that several foreign nationals were arrested last year for illegally fishing jovial fish and sentenced to a fine.
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