Sierra Leone News: There is no Increment in License Fees — Fisheries Minister
By Abu Bakarr Munu
The Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister, Hon. Emma Kowa Jalloh has said that there is no increment in license fees for fishing boats in Sierra Leone.
The minister told a news conference in Freetown on Thursday that, in reality, there is a reduction in the license fees for fishing boats.
Her comments came after local fishermen accused the government of increasing license fees by 400 percent for artisanal fishing boats. There is huge public outcry due to the current arrangement which is being enforced by the ministry.
The Minister said that the increment on license fees from Le250,000 to Le 1,000,000 had been misunderstood. She said that license fees are based on categories, which is being undertaken by both the local councils and the fisheries ministry.
“The license fee scheduled in the ministry was in dollar for all categories whether foreign artisanal boats or local,” the Minister said.
She said that they called all artisanal stakeholders and together they agreed on the price formula of Le1,000,000 for standard boats which could accommodate 5–10 crew and Le1,500,000 for Ghanaian boats.
Hon. Kowa Jalloh said that if they go by the law, the Ghanaian fishing boats are supposed to pay US$1,650 which is equivalent to Le14 million.
LICENSE FEE CATEGORY FOR COUNCILS AND THE MINISTRY OF FISHERIES
CANOE TYPE
CANOE LENGTH
(METRES)
LICENSE FEES
LE
LICENSE AUTHORITY
Dugout Kru
4–5m
60,000
Local Council
Standard 1–3
5–6m
250,000
Local Council
Standard 3–5
6–8m
400,000
Local Council
Standard 5–10
8–10m
1,000,000
MFMR
Ghana
12–18m
1,500,000
MFMR
She said the above price formula was agreed because the ministry had noticed that fishing boats are exporting all their catch to neighbouring country including Guinea, Senegal, Liberia, and Ghana without paying the appropriate fees.
She pointed out that local fishermen sell at high cost to foreign boats and did not pay export , while foreign vessels in turned labelled these fishes and sell them in Europe, Asia and America; and pay pittance to government. She said as a result of this activity government is losing a lot of money
She disclosed that there are currently 12,000 local boats fishing in Sierra Leone waters on a daily basis.
The Minister said that she inherited a weak revenue collecting system. She said that they have entered into agreement with the Chinese to undertake a survey of fish stock in Sierra Leone waters. She said that there will come a time when government will determine how many boats will go to sea per day.
