Fish processing is our business- Tombo Women

On a recent field visit by Government, the World Bank and the media to the heart land of fishing in the Western Area Peninsula, the women of Tombo vowed to take fishing and fish processing to a different level.

Speaking to this medium, most of the women fish traders called on government to see reason and invest in fishing, which will earn more revenue for the country, compared to the huge loss in tax exemption giving to the various mining companies which they say do not make much impact on citizens’ lives through the tax paid to government.

Isatu Bankole stated that she and other colleagues have been in the fish business for close to three decades, but was disappointed that facilities remain the same, making the business an uphill task.

She commended government for its intervention through the Rural Private Sector Development Programme (RPSDP) for providing a market place as well as two fish processing centres to reduce some of the many challenges they are faced with for preservation and storage at an optimal temperature.
The Chairlady furthered that Pepper Wharf at Tombo community receives hundreds of boats almost on a daily basis from around the country, including Guinea, Liberia and other West African states that use the wharf to land their catch for sale to the women.

According to her the number of boats is high and despite RPSDP’s intervention there is need to expand and increase in order to make room for growth in the business.

Madam Bankole together with the community head, Mohamed Mansaray revealed that when boats land at night the two fish centres with no electricity and proper storage they are overwhelmed with the challenge to smoke the huge amount of catch brought in, and also after smoking over dozens of various species of fish, the problem of a cold room to do proper storage remains a dream, and as a result efforts made to smoke large amount of fish becomes a huge loss to traders due to lack of proper storage.

The women appealed to government through the RPSDP to seek for more support from its partners to further invest and expand on fishing in Tombo community to match International standards, meaning increased revenue in foreign exchange for government and benefit to the nation from its natural resources.

Meanwhile, traders mostly women in non-food items also expressed concern and appealed that the present market space be extended in order that they will also be accommodated and not left out in the open as it is presently.

Margaret Kamara, a trader in second hand clothing stated that during week days when the crowd is huge to do fish business, traders in non-food items hardly have space to sell and this, she noted, affects their livelihood, forcing them to hawk their wares in prohibited parts of the community, causing them financial loss when they do get in conflict with the law.

By Ade Campbell