{"Bibliographic":{"Title":"Fisheries of Sierra Leone, 1970-71","Authors":"","Publication date":"1972","Publisher":""},"Administrative":{"Date created":"08-20-2023","Language":"English","Rights":"CC 0","Size":"0000012397"},"Pages":["HD\n9450\nF6\nA UNITED STATES\n72-13\nDEPARTMENT OF\nCOMMERCE\nForeign Fisheries Leaflet No. 72-13\nPUBLICATION\nA\nOF\nI\nU.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE\nNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\nNational Marine Fisheries Service\nSTATES\nOF\nFisheries of Sierra Leone,\n1970-71\nNORMAN L. PEASE\nInternational\nActivities\nStaff\nWASHINGTON, D.C.\nNovember 1972","FISHERIES OF SIERRA LEONE, 1970-71\nTable of Contents\nPage\nIntroduction\n1\nCatch\n1\nImports\n2\nFishing activities\n2\nResearch activities\n4\nNew developments\n6","FISHERIES OF SIERRA LEONE, 1970-71\nBy Norman L. Pease and William B. Folsom\nINTRODUCTION\nThe Republic of Sierra Leone is a small (27,925 square miles) West\nAfrican country (about the size of South Carolina) which gained\nindependence on April 27, 1961. Its coastline of 210 miles faces\nthe Atlantic Ocean and is bordered on the north by Guinea and on\nthe south by Liberia. Sierra Leone claims a 200-mile territorial\nsea. Its 2.5-million population (1969 estimate) consumes an average\nof 18 pounds of fish each year. Fisheries, however, account for only\n1 to 2 percent of the Gross National Product and are failing to keep\npace with domestic demand.\nCATCH\nSince independence, Sierra Leone's fisheries catch first increased\nfrom 22,800 metric tons in 1961 to a high of 33,600 tons in 1967;\nby 1970 it had decreased to 23,000 tons.\nTable 1. --Sierra Leone's fisheries catch, 1961-70.\nCatch\nYear\nQuantity\nValue\nThousand\nThousand\nmetric tons\ndollars\n1970\n23.0\nn.a.\n3,799\n1969\n25.5\n3,507\n1968\n23.5\n1967\n33.6\n4,271\n4,030\n1966\n32.2\n1965\n32.6\n3,849\n3,443\n1964\n29.9\n1963\n28.1\nn.a.\n1962\n26.9\nn.a.\n22.8\n1961\nn.a.\nFAO, Yearbook of Fishery Statistics, various years\nNorman L. Pease is the United States Regional Fisheries Attache, Embassy of\nthe United States of America, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and William B. Folsom is\nwith the International Activities Staff, National Marine Fisheries Service.\n- 1 -","- 2 -\nOf the 23,000 tons caught in 1970, about 14,000 tons were produced\nby the artisanal fisheries and the remaining 9,000 tons by the modern\nfishery. In 1969 (when the catch was 25,500 tons), about 60 percent\nof the catch was bonga (Ethmalosa fimbriata) and 40 percent herring\n(Sardinella eba).\nTuna production declined from 6,500 tons in 1969 to about 5,600 tons\nin 1970. Of the 1970 tuna catch, some 3,700 tons were held in storage\nashore for later transshipment. This holding included 1,930 tons of\nalbacore; the rest consisted of mixed species. Some 1,900 tons were\ntransferred directly from catcher vessels to carriers and transshipped\nto Puerto Rico for processing.\nIMPORTS\nIncreased local demand coupled with a drop in fishery production\nhas resulted in increased imports of fishery (mostly frozen) products:\nTable 2.--Sierra Leone's fishery imports,\n1961-70.\nFishery imports\nYear\nQuantity\nValue\nMetric tons\nThousand\ndollars\n1970\n12,100\n2,484\n1969\n11,100\n2,822\n1968\n4,700\n901\n1967\n5,300\n1,396\n1966\n9,400\n1,834\n1965\n6,900\n1,334\n1964\n6,877\n1,415\n1963\n2,472\n665\n1962\n2,797\n1,069\n1961\n1,995\n479\nFISHING ACTIVITIES\nModern\nTwo firms operate a total of six modern trawlers. These two firms,\nalthough small, account for between one-fourth and one-third of\nSierra Leone's total fishery production.","- 3 -\nFish Industries Sierra Leone Ltd., (identified as FIL) is the most\nimportant fishery firm. It catches, processes, and markets fish\nlocally in addition to holding and transshipping tuna. Sea Products\nLtd. and Van Camp Sea Food Company, a division of Ralston Purina,\nown equal shares in this firm.\nSea products (which handles all of FIL's domestic trade) is owned by\nlocal interests and the Mesurado Fishing Co. of Liberia. The company's\nproperty includes 270 feet of dock space capable of accommodating\nvessels with drafts up to 14 feet; a cold storage plant which will\nhold 2,500 tons of fish at -18°C.; an ice plant which can produce\n80 tons per day; and supply shops. In Murraytown, Sea Products has\na 280-ton capacity cold-store.\nSea Products supplies frozen fish to six cold storage depots in the\ninterior where supplies are distributed to small retail outlets.\n(See map) The depots are operated by local agents who haul fish\nfrom Freetown in refrigerated trucks, which they are purchasing on\ncredit received from Sea Products. Fresh fish to supply this\noperation is purchased from several of the local trawlers, but most\n2\nof the supply is received from foreign vessels.\nThe Van Camp division of FIL transships tuna purchased from longline\nvessels. In 1970, 10 South Korean vessels operated out of Freetown.\nTo expedite shipments, rendezvous are sometimes made in Freetown\nHarbor, where the plant provides fish handlers to make the transfer.\nQuarters are available ashore for crew members; replacements for the\nentire crew on the Korean vessels are periodically flown in.\nFIL operates four 50-foot trawlers, all over 15 years old. Italian\nresidents in Freetown operate the vessels with local crewmen.\nLiberty Fishing Company is the second fishing company in Sierra\nLeone. The firm has a new, Italian-built and operated trawler and a\nsecond, older vessel. The firm operates a 1,000-cubic-foot cold-store\nin Freetown.\nLunsar (10-ton capacity), Makeni (15-tons), BO (40-tons), Kenema (80-tons),\n1\nKailahun (10-tons), and Sefadu (40-tons). Lack of adequate freezer facilities,\nhowever, is a major factor preventing the expansion of this industry.\nIn 1968, some 36 Japanese, South Korean, and Spanish vessels operated out of\n2\nFreetown. Many of these vessels, including fleets of Soviet vessels, still\nunload catches at Freetown for local distribution, but current information\nis not available.","- 4 -\nArtisanal\nThere are an estimated 11,500 fishermen in Sierra Leone's artisanal\nor canoe fishery, and 5,500 are considered full-time workers. The\nartisanal fishery has always caught most of Sierra Leone's production,\nalthough the expulsion of some 1,700 Ghanaian fishermen in 1968-69\ncaused production to fall. A 1963 estimate placed the total number\nof canoes at 4,500. The Ghanaians had about 450 of that total, and\nemployed nearly 5,000 men. Their canoes were the largest in this\nfishery (35-50 feet) and averaged 11 crewmen. The Ghanaians could\nfish well offshore, but the rest of the fleet fished in the estuaries\nwith smaller canoes (12-25 feet) and crews of only one to five men.\nThe canoe fishery uses beach seines, cast nets, drift nets, gill nets,\nhandlines, longlines, scoop nets, set nets, and traps. The gill nets\nare set around fish schools which are then \"spooked\" by creating loud\nnoises to frighten the fish into the webbing. The nets are then\nhauled into the canoes and transported immediately to shore. The entire\nnet is removed from the canoe, and the fish picked out of the webbing.\nThey are then put into 48-pound containers for transport to market.\nLack of local refrigeration facilities, combined with very high air\ntemperatures and humidity, result in a high rate of spoilage; this\nis especially true for bonga.\nBonga, an estuarine species, which constitutes the major part of the\ncatch, is usually preserved by smoking. Other pelagic species taken\nin lesser amounts are herring, mullet, and jack mackerel. Demersal\nspecies include sea breams and corvina.\nRESEARCH ACTIVITIES\nThe Sierra Leone Fisheries Division and UNDP/FAO recently completed\na 5-year project to investigate the pelagic resources of Sierra Leone.\nConsiderable information has been obtained regarding oceanographic\nconditions and its concomitant effect on seasonal abundance and\ndistribution of fish schools. The research vessel Awefu, a 79-foot\ncombination purse seiner/trawler delivered to the project in\nFebruary 1969, played an important role in this investigation.\nThe results of this study are high-lighted below.","- 5 -\nCoastal Conditions\nThe coastal waters of Sierra Leone are influenced during the rainy\nseason (July-December) by onshore winds and heavy river discharge,\nand during the dry season (January-June) by offshore winds and\nreduced river discharge. During the rainy season, estuaries become\ndiluted and the low-salinity waters extend well offshore. Conversely,\nduring the dry season, the offshore wind blows the low-salinity\nsurface water offshore and brings up the colder, high-salinity water.\nIt has been noted that higher surface salinities along the coast\nare correlated with observations of offshore school species well\ninside the rainy estuarine limits.\nSierra Leone's southern coastal shelf is relatively narrow and has\nlimited pelagic fish resources. It is influenced during the dry season\nby the southeasterly flowing Guinea Current. Shoreward movement of\nthe indigenous bottom fish has been noted during this period, probably\ndue to the intrusion of a cold-water wedge. In the north, Sierra Leone's\ncoastal shelf begins to widen near the Sherbro Islands, extends seaward\n70 miles near the Guinea border, and forms part of the productive Guinea\nContinental Shelf, whose depths are less than 15 fathoms. Tidal\ninfluence has been detected 50 miles at sea, an important factor\ninfluencing purse seining for pelagic fish.\nResources\nPelagic resources may be divided into three primary species: E. fimbriata\n(bonga), the most important commercial fish; S. eba (herring), the most\nabundant pelagic fish in shallow coastal waters with the best potential\nfor local development of a fishery; and S. aurita (sardine), the most\nimportant commercial species of sardinella found in abundance from\nSenegal north. The latter species was located in quantity by the survey\noff Sierra Leone.\nBonga is fished throughout the year, in estuaries during the dry\nseason and near estuary outlets during the rainy season. Annual catches\nby local fishermen have ranged from 12,000 to 20,000 tons. UNDP/FAO\nsources feel that improved fishing methods could increase yield without\nendangering the resource.","- 6 -\nStudies have shown that Sierra Leone's coastal waters are a primary\nspawning area for herring. Ripe adults were captured throughout the\nyear in depths of 16 fathoms or less. Sea conditions from January\nthrough May were observed to be ideal for sighting surface schools\nin relatively calm seas. The area of known concentrations extends\nfor 20 miles along the coast near the Guinean border in depths from\n6 to 12 fathoms. The survey team estimated that the potential annual\nyield of herring within Sierra Leone waters could exceed 300,000 tons.\nThe round-bodied sardines were first identified in quantity off\nSierra Leone by the FAO Regional Fishery Survey vessel Thue Jr.\nin 1970. In 1971 the R/V Awefu identified sardine schools 50 miles\nwest of Freetown over an area 10 miles wide by 20 miles long, in\ndepths of 17 to 20 fathoms. In one purse seine set the vessel\ncaught 60 tons while contending with a strong wind and a 1.5-knot\ncurrent.\nNEW DEVELOPMENTS\nThe Sierra Leone Government is aware of the commercial quantities\nof shrimp in its coastal waters and is now selecting a responsible\ncompany to establish operations and to process shrimp locally for\nexport. 3 The extensive shrimp grounds off the coast should permit\nthe development of a prosperous industry within a few years.\nA new railway for dry docking vessels up to 600 displacement tons\nhas been installed. This will permit local vessel maintenance and\nrepair facilities for a shrimp fleet. Tuna longliners working out\nof Sierra Leone, will not have to travel long distances to other\nparts of Africa for their periodic haulout.\n3 The Mesurado Fishing Company of Liberia has received permission to establish\na modern shrimp fishery in Sierra Leone according to Liberian news reports.\nDetails on this venture, however, are not yet available.","- 7 -\nSierra\nLeone\nGUINEA\n0\nMakeni\n3\nSefadu\nLunsar\nO\nO\nSIERRA LEONE\nFreetown\nBo\nATLANTIC\nKenema\nOCEAN\nSIERRA LEONE\nLIBERIA\nBoundary\n100\nO Cold-stores\n10 20 30 40 50\nMiles\nNOTE: Kailahun (10-tons) and Murraytown (280-tons) are not shown."]}