Thiobon (Bignona), Dec 21 (APS) – The village of Thiobon, in the department of Bignona, is an important starting point towards other places in the Ziguinchor region through the bolongs of the Casamance River. Canoes ensure the transport of people and goods. This is where the women of the Karonguène Soul GIE (oyster farming) embark to go to their oyster field located in the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of Kaalolaal Blouf-Fogny.
The decree creating the Kaalalaal Blouf Fogny Protected Marine Air Force (KBF) as well as that of Gorée was signed on May 27, 2020. The AMP polarizes the municipalities of Diouloulou, Kataba 1, Djinacky, Mlomp, Thionck Essyl, Diégoune, Kartiack, Suel and Djibidione, an area of 83,854 hectares. The marine area has an estuarine part and a terrestrial part which includes a mangrove forest, mudflats, continental forests, a coastal mangrove and small estuaries. An ecosystem rich in woody and fishery resources.
On board the canoes, wearing a vest is required under the watchful eye of the deputy curator of the MPA and the president of the management committee. In Thiobon, oyster picking is being scaled up with the project “Strengthening the shellfish industry in Senegal through compliance with Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards”. The SPS project which aims to promote the health safety of shellfish and their access to regional and international markets is implemented by FAO and the Government of Senegal, with the support of the Funds for the Application of Standards and Trade Development. (STDF) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Its objective is to improve the exploitation of shellfish, make them more wholesome and healthy for human consumption and thus enable their export to growing markets by bringing them up to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards.
Since January 2024, monthly samples for analysis have been taken at 50 production sites spread across the regions of Saint-Louis, Louga, Thiès, Fatick, Kaolack, Kolda, Sédhiou and Ziguinchor, with the aim of improving the exploitation of shellfish. and thus enable their export to growing markets.
The advent of this project allows oyster harvesting to scale up. This is the case in Thiobon where residents can now engage in oyster farming, that is to say the farming of oysters.
The boats are moving closer to the mangrove. Shells hang from the roots. A medium-sized crocodile lounges in this aquatic vegetation. He is in his environment.
ANA-FAO partnership
After around ten minutes of navigation, the teams arrive at the oyster field of GIE Karonguène Soul. In the salt water, the garlands are installed. These are wires stretched between eucalyptus branches supported by stakes planted near the mangrove. This process makes it possible to capture the spats (larvae) which cling to the wires. These larvae can grow between these nets or be collected and placed in bags to grow further. In addition to the garlands, there are also the cups which allow the larvae to be captured.
In Thiobon, thanks to the partnership between the National Aquaculture Agency (ANA) and the FAO, the women of the GIE Karonguène Soul (oyster farming) combine this modern technique of picking oysters and the traditional one which consists of detaching the oysters from the roots of mangrove trees. Arabiatou Diémé is at the head of this group of 100 members, the majority of whom are women. With the FAO project, they acquired knowledge in the processing and conservation of oysters. ''Previously, we went to pick the oysters, we dried them. But more and more we are boiling them to preserve them in jars and sell them,'' says the vice-president of the GIE, Aïssata Diédhiou.
Last year, production was not there because they had not yet mastered oyster farming techniques. This season, the vice-president has a lot of hope. In Thiobon, as in the production areas, women are pleading for access to markets and the acquisition of canoes and equipment.
The move to oyster farming is welcomed by Ousmane Coly, president of the management committee of the AMP Kaalolaal Blouf Fogni and member of the GIE Karonguène Soul, who recalls the conditions in which these women worked.
''To exploit the oysters, the women boarded small canoes and went to the mangroves to pick up the shells, he explains. Often in this work they used cutters. We understood, with the support of the State and the ANA, that this form of exploitation was not appropriate because we could kill the mangroves. And the women, aware of the situation, made gloves from worn denim pants to harvest oysters without cutting the roots of the mangroves.
Today, people are learning oyster farming with the support of the ANA which has allowed them to install garlands.
According to Mr. Coly, ''the communities have agreed to move towards modernity by practicing oyster farming. The management committee is the business of the communities. It was the communities who set up the management committee with the technical team of the Marine Protected Area. The management committee represents the communities. You will find there the GIEs, the associations. We are committed to conservation for sustainable exploitation of the resource.
According to the president of the Management Committee, the FAO was already present before the implementation of the MPA. ''It came through the ANA, a long-standing partner in oyster exploitation. The FAO has given us a working framework for rational exploitation of the resource and its valorization. At the time, oysters were just intended for local consumption. Today, with the help of the FAO, we could export oysters. We can produce, transform and sell. This is truly the promotion of the oyster,'' underlines Ousmane Coly.
One of the objectives of the STDF project is to ensure the production of healthy oysters. This will promote the sale of fresh oysters that are more likely to provide better income for producers.
''You can dry a large quantity of shellfish and end up with just a small quantity of oysters. Today, we have mastered techniques for preserving fresh oysters which allow us to generate more income. But to sell this fresh oyster everywhere, it must be healthy. It is within this framework that the FAO initiative falls. It's a process,'' says Ousmane Coly.
According to him, the trend today is to move towards oyster farms. ''That's the objective. If these parks are well managed, a partner can ask for fresh oysters, and in this case, it will just be enough to go to a field and harvest some. It will have a quality product, suitable for consumption,'' maintains Mr. Coly, not without pleading for the erection of a disgorging center on site.
Unclogging oysters is a technique which allows oysters to be stored once they have been removed from the bags in a compartment or unclogger for 6 hours to eliminate all residues of mud and contents of the oysters' digestive system.
Then, the oysters are placed for 24 to 48 hours in another compartment to be purified by mixing in a micro bubble where the water is well oxygenated since the water from the purification basin is filtered and sterilized. The oysters, once clean, are collected and shelled.
Today, the only disgorging center in the entire Ziguinchor region is located in Katakalousse, in the commune of Diémbéring.
Sustainable exploitation of the resource is at the heart of the communities' approach within the framework of the Marine Protected Area. Deputy to the Curator of the AMP, Lieutenant Lamine Loum explains that it “is made up of two teams: the state team led by the curator and the team of the management committee which takes care of the resource.”
Rational exploitation of the resource
It recalls their role as “regulators” as agents. ''We are here to support the population, to support the management committee in the exploitation of resources. This exploitation is regulated, whether it concerns fishery products or forest products. We are there to be the guarantors of this exploitation and these regulations are defined by the population,'' he explains.
Lieutenant Loum recalls that “there are periods of operation and periods of closure. During the operating period, we observe whether the conditions are met. Do women wear their vests, are safety standards respected? It is strictly forbidden to cut the mangrove, whether the roots or the leaves. Communities are the basis for the creation of MPAs; and when the State creates an MPA, it makes it available to communities. It's a purely participatory approach.
For Ibrahima Tamsir Mané, village chief of Thiobon, ''the FAO project came at the right time, given the difficulties linked to the sale of products. Women work a lot and often in difficult conditions. In addition to this, they encounter difficulties in selling their products. The FAO project will allow women not only to reduce the arduousness of their work and to facilitate the sale of products thanks to the sale of fresh oysters respecting health standards. There will be economic benefits for families.
In Thiobon, as in most production sites, women work more on artisanal processing. Hard work that doesn't pay much. The State and its partners are engaged in a process of promoting oyster farming potential by focusing on the health safety of oysters, a promising perspective, according to Dr Mamadou Ndiaye.
''We have been in the production areas and we have seen the difficulty of this transformation. In terms of yields, according to the figures given, it takes 70 kg of fresh processed oysters to have one kg of dried product. And the price per kg hardly reaches 5000 CFA francs. However, if we can guarantee sanitary quality, we can sell the product in its raw state. As a result, we can validly sell a dozen for 5000 f. And we go from 1 x 5000 to 70 x 5000 CFA francs. The margin in terms of development and improvement of income is extremely large,'' he says.
Mr. Ndiaye thus believes that working on product certification means working to multiply by 70 the income of players in the sector, more than 80% of whom are women. We can clearly see the social repercussions that this will have.
OID/AKS/ADL
