Musa Yali Batchilly, leader of Gambia Action Party, has called on President Adama Barrow to send away Chinese and other foreign fishermen exploiting the nation’s waters.

He said they are destroying the country’s fishing stocks and the citizens are suffering as a result of their actions. 

“I want Barrow to close the River Gambia and send away the Chinese and close the river for a while. People are suffering – the foreigners have come to take away our fish to their countries,” he said.

The GAP leader wants President Barrow to act now as it will be in the national interests. 

Mr Batchilly said his intervention on the issue of over fishing in The Gambia was meant in good faith. 

“I am advising you President Barrow and know that I am not competing with you because you are my president and I will tell you the truth,” he said. 

The Gambia fishing sector has seen a sharp rise in demand for access to the nation’s fishing waters. 

Chinese, European and Senegalese authorities have signed agreements allowing their fishing vessels to access Gambian waters. 

But the industrial trawlers have been accused of breaching regulations to fish inside a nine-nautical-mile-wide area reserved for local fishermen. 

Reporting by Adama Makasuba