18 April 2008
Gambia has signed an agreement with neighbouring Senegal over the issue of sustainable fishing policy to ensure the two countries can maintain their resources for the global dynamic food industry.
The Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission from 1985 was the Western African countries' first attempt to harmonise the fisheries polices on the coast.
Its members include Gambia, Senegal, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mauritania.
"The Senegalese-Gambian fishing agreement was to strengthen the fisheries industry of the two countries, noting that the two had a common fishing understanding," Senegalese minister of state for maritime economy, maritime transport, fisheries and aquaculture, Souleymane Ndene Ndiaye, told Panapress.
According to AccessGambia, Gambia's total annual fish production for 2002 amounted to around 43,000 metric tones, of which 573 tonnes were exported in 2003.
The EU is Gambia's most important market for fish exports and frozen shrimps and prawns alone account for over one third of its total exports.
