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With a single deep-sea patrol boat, Sierra Leone was struggling to prevent ships from plundering it despite the suspension of one month of industrial fishing.
Dozens of large foreign trawlers are allowed to fish in the waters of Sierra Leone and the goal of the ban, which ended on Tuesday, was to help rebuild species damaged by overfishing.
But the arrested people were local people accused of using illegal nets or attempting to export fish.
"We have a sea patrol ship, two operational inflatable boats and five coastal patrol boats," said Abdul Karim Dumbaya, chief of operations of the West Africa Joint Maritime Commission, which connects eight government agencies.
About 100 visiting trawlers have a fishing license. More than half of them are Chinese boats, out of reach of the inspection teams.
"If we had more than one patrol vessel at sea, we would have the possibility of badigning one to another in the south and another to the north, and even waiting, but now we are only talking about only one patrol vessel at sea. It's a challenge in itself, "said Dumbaya.
However, the JMCs have daily patrols, which makes all the difference of a trip per week.
During the ban, JMC agents apprehended three artisbad fishermen using illegal nets in Tombo, a fishing village east of the capital Freetown.
They picked up three others in Bonthe, in the south-west of the country, "trying to sell fish to exporters," Dumbaya said.
"They destroyed my properties"
The ban was aimed exclusively at industrial fishing, but all fish exports were banned when they were in place.
It also required industrial fishing companies to stock fish of different species in cold rooms in order to avoid shortages and price increases.
According to official statistics, fish accounts for 80% of the protein intake of animal origin in the diet of Sierra Leoneans. The fishing industry employs 500,000 people, mainly on traditional boats, out of a population of 7.5 million.
It represents between 12% and 15% of the gross domestic product.
But local fish are becoming rarer and smaller, according to Andrew Baio, a lecturer at the Institute of Marine Biology and Oceanography.
"There is evidence that stocks are depleting and the situation is getting worse," said Baio, based on his badessment "on the size and amount of fish per unit of effort".
Local fishing families blame offshore trawlers for wreaking havoc on fish stocks in Atlantic waters and believe that the ban of a month has been far too short .
"These trawlers are not giving us a chance, they have bankrupted my company and destroyed my property," said Manfereh Suma, a fisherwoman at the Goderich market in Freetown. "I left with nothing, Zero."
"Only God can help us"
The port's captain, Momoh Bangura, a fisherman for 50 years, said the depletion of fish stocks had reached a critical level.
"When the trawlers started arriving in large numbers in this country in 1980, the amount of fish started to drop," he said.
He spoke of areas where fish was abundant, but today "there is nothing left". "Where we now fish, only God can help us, because there are so many rocks," he added.
Deputy Commander Philip Juana, a naval officer, told AFP that the April ban had served as a "test" that could be followed by longer and longer steps.
"We need more capacity to make our presence felt at sea," he concluded.
Paul Jackson, a fisherman for more than 25 years, said the doors of the Fisheries Ministry were closed to him when he had tried to denounce Chinese trawlers defying the ban.
China is a big investor in the country. Meanwhile, the ministry has not responded to AFP's interview requests.
Ian Ralby, marine surveyor at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said the lack of means to monitor shipping activity was badociated with corruption and low fines.
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