The launch of the Letter of Agreement for the Sardinella and Bonga known as the Fisheries Management Plan is welcome, but its true value will not be measured by speeches at Marina Parade.
It will be measured at Tanji, Gunjur, Bakau and Kartong - where canoes return half-empty and fishmeal factories hum through the night.
For too long, The Gambia’s most important small pelagic fish have been managed by guesswork.
DPS Fanta Manneh is right to call the data deficiency a critical technical gap. You cannot regulate what you do not measure. The promise under Axis 1 of the EAF-Nansen Phase II Project - to track biological sizes, exact catch-and-effort, and mandatory reporting from factories - is therefore the heart of this plan. Without credible data, our licensing regime remains a ritual.
Equally crucial is the focus on Monitoring, Control and Surveillance. The editorial team has repeatedly warned about the open secret along our coast: industrial incursion into artisanal zones, undersized mesh, and weak inspection at landing sites.
A management plan that introduces standardized mesh sizes and zoning boundaries to protect artisanal fishers is not anti-investment; it is pro-survival.
Bonga and sardinella are not luxury exports. They are food security. They are the protein of the poor, the livelihood of women processors, the income of thousands of youths.
Director Momodou Sidibeh makes a vital point - fish stocks do not respect administrative boundaries. If The Gambia manages sustainably while neighbours overfish the same shared stock, we will still lose.
Regional coordination through WAHO, ECOWAS and the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission must therefore be non-negotiable.
But here is the hard truth: The Gambia has no shortage of excellent plans. What we lack is courageous implementation.
This Plan, as DPS Manneh said, is “our contract with future generations.” Contracts are broken when enforcement is selective.
Will the Department of Fisheries have the political backing to sanction a non-compliant factory? Will mandatory reporting be enforced with real penalties, including license suspension? Will MCS patrols be funded beyond the project life?
The Ministry of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters must publish quarterly catch data, factory compliance reports and inspection outcomes. Transparency is the best net.
Bonga may be small, but its collapse would be a big crisis - nutritional, economic and social. Let this LoA move us from planning to practice, fully, transparently and courageously, as DPS Manneh urged.
Our waters must remain productive, our tables nourished, and our economy resilient. That will not happen by launching. It will happen by policing.
The end!!!!