By Mama A. Touray
The Tanji fish management committee, in an exclusive interview with The Fatu Network, has called on the Government, through the Ministry of Fisheries, to help reduce the price of fuel and electricity.
Assan Jallow told TFN that the boat owners, fishermen, and fishmongers are facing challenges due to the high cost of fuel and electricity, which is affecting their ability to continue fishing in Tanji.
He expressed concern that because of the high cost of fuel and electricity, boat owners are leaving the Tanji site to buy fuel in places closer to Senegal. Additionally, the price of ice blocks is increasing as ice plant owners struggle with the cost of electricity.
“We want the government through the Ministry of Fisheries to help reduce the price of fuel and electricity because if you see a lot of boats run away from Tanji beach to other beaches like Kafunting, is because of the price of fuel.
“The price of fuel in Senegal is cheaper compared to ours. You will see boats that will have fuel, but the fuel is from Senegal simply because the price here is higher than that of Senegal,” he said.
He described how fishermen often store the fuel purchased from Senegal in their boats, using it as needed. Despite the presence of petrol stations in their own country, he noted that the high cost drives many to buy fuel in Senegal and store it either in their boats or in a secure location.
“The fuel that the boats use and that of the factories are not the same. If you put 50 litres of fuel in a car you can go up to Basse but if you put that in a boat, you won’t pass Foni because they are totally different. The fishermen are going to take about 300 litres. If you put that amount in a car, you will round the entire country”.
On the price of ice block to preserve fish Jallow said: “Ice block is very expensive now because the amount of electricity consumed by factory owners is too much, then what they consume is different from what they consume now that is why they increase the price because they don’t have anything from it”.
He added: “When the price of electricity was not increased, ice block was easy and affordable but now it’s not because of the increment in electricity and that is a big challenge to us. When you go to the provinces with fish knowing that the place is hot, if you usually buy 150 baskets, you cannot buy 150 but 100 because of fish scarcity and the increment of electricity price makes ice block expensive”.
Aramata Manneh, a fishmonger laments the high cost of ice blocks.
“Having access to ice block is another challenge [because] the price is high. Then we buy a bag of broken ice blocks for D75 but now we buy it at D130 and if it’s not available at Tanji they go to other places and bring it. If that happens, they sell it to us for D300 and if you say it’s costly your fish will be spoiled”.
