The Director General of the Liberian Fisheries sector has disclosed that the country’s fisheries sector is now at the verge of reaching an industrial level as she commissioned the first comprehensive and independent fish stock assessment Monday August 14, 2023 at the Bong Mines Fishing Pier on Bushrod Island outside Monrovia for the so purpose of developing a management plan that would inform the fisheries authority on the fish resources and the number of vessels to be licensed to fish.
“this process is complete as Liberia has successfully contracted the services of the Oceanographic Research Center of Dakar- Senegal (CRODT) to assess its coastal pelagic (mid water) and demersal (bottom) fish resources”.
It can be recalled, sometime ago, the government of Liberia through the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) entered into a bilateral arrangement with the Senegalese government which later arranged with the Guinean government for the use of its research vessel “RV Lansana Conte” for the conduct of a comprehensive fish stock assessment across the country.
Addressing a live media coverage in the front of “RV Lansana Conte” at the BMC Pier Madam Emma Metieh Glassco disclosed that Liberia will shortly achieve its potential in the fisheries sector following the comprehensive and independent fish stock assessment which will impact the nine coastal counties.
“this is a transition from small skill fisheries to a commercially viable fishing industrial fisheries sector”
Madam Glassco who disclosed that the entire financing of the stock assessment under the World Bank sponsored ‘Liberia Sustainable Fisheries Management Project’ is put at more than US2Million said the stock assessment would reveal the entire potential of the Liberian Fisheries sector and at the same time mentioned that following the process across Liberia, fish importation will be minimized as such Liberian markets will be flooded with Liberian fish products.
“Liberia has a history of having an abundance of shelve fish, once the biggest exporter of sea food in the 1970s into Europe, Asia and other parts of the World, we have one of the best shrimps, but we cannot attract investors now because we do have any scientific information to prove that these species are available and obtain their geographical distribution across the continental shelve”
The Liberian Fisheries Director General who expressed optimism about the positive outcome of the fish stock assessment, revealed that following the research the fisheries authority will obtain the net worth of Liberia’s marine resources at which time the ocean will be quantified thus giving its overall value.
