STAKEHOLDERS REVIEW ACTIVITIES IMPROVING SANITARY HANDLING OF SEAFOOD SUPPLY

Various players in the fishery sector have gathered to peruse on the documents and activities that would further strengthen safety of consumable food, including new catches, and sales-food along the coast, where fishing boats land.
Held at the Department of Fisheries’ conference room on Tuesday, the meeting was organized by the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) – an add-on to the Gambia-

Senegal sustainable fisheries project, locally called Ba-Nafaa.
The Ba-Nafaa project is a five year project, which commenced in October 2009 and will end in September 2014 is initiated by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and it is implemented by the Coastal Resources Centre of the University of Rhode Island in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the government of the Gambia.

Speaking at the occasion, Amadou Saine, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, said “The objectives of WASH include improving water supply and sanitation in approximately seven oyster landing and processing sites, and improving sanitary handling of sea food supply.”
The WASH component of Ba-Nafaa is implemented through sub-contracts with GAMWORKS and the Trust Agency for Rural Development (TARUD): GAMWORKS is to provide construction over-sight supervision of the facilities that are to be constructed in approximately seven fishing landing and oyster processing sites, whilst TARUD has been contracted to conduct needs assessment to assist in the selection process of the sites.

TARUD would also be involved in the capacity development of the fishing and oyster communities on Participatory and Sanitation Health Transformation (PHAST); training of communities and outreach on hygiene promotion, as well as the preparation of management plans for the preparation of water and sanitation facilities.

PS Saine welcomes WASH as an add-on component to the Ba-Nafaa project, saying “The provision of water and sanitary facilities in the artisanal fisheries sub-sector is very important and timely and goes a long way in complimenting government’s efforts to ensure that fish and fishery products are of very high quality and meet international standards of food safety [requirements].”
For the deputy director of fisheries Famara Dampha, “There are clear signs of over-exploitation of important fish stocks world-wide and Gambia is not an exception. There are also signs of ecosystems modification due in some part to fishing activities.”

He went on: “Climate change is also threatening to take its toll on fisheries. These and many other challenges including those related to international fish trade facing the sector collectively threatens the long-term sustainability of fisheries and the contribution of fisheries as food supplier and foreign exchange earner.”
However, in the vein of managing fisheries, which will embrace conservation as well as environmental considerations, the department responsible for fisheries has identified reducing post harvest loses or increasing post-harvest utilization, yet results have not been realized.

He pointed at factors that led to the underachievement the above goal, saying “One of the constraints was inadequate water and sanitation facilities at the landing sites,” a factor Ba-Nafaa is expected to address.