Update 5th June 2021
On the 9th May 2021 we sent an open letter to H.E President Julius Maada Bio and the First Lady H.E. Fatima Maada Bio (letters below).
We want discussion blackjohnsonlandowners@gmail.com
We want development, we have viable, sustainable, alternatives; let’s talk.
The world is watching.
Thanks to our supporters we now have national and international legal teams in place, they are ready for action. We want dialogue, peace and resolution. You have our contact blackjohnsonlandowners@gmail.com
Open letter to H.E President Julius Maada Bio Re: Black Johnson Beach to be turned into a toxic industrial fish meal factory
Dear Mr. President,
We appeal for your immediate intervention and leadership to prevent a catastrophic human and ecological disaster happening in Sierra Leone. From information we have received decisions have been made that would be disastrous for the country and planet (details in our press release below). We ask you as the father of our lovely country to intervene in this matter. Only you can save our beautiful beaches. Only you can protect the livelihoods of our fishermen and their families. Please use your Presidential power to prevent Sierra Leone being condemned by the international community. Please show other countries that you will stand up against anything that damages the environment or the well being of your people.
Please watch the international documentary from The New Yorker (link below). See for yourself the devastating examples of fish meal production in The Gambia, the journalist Ian Urbina investigates the human and ecological cost of the booming farm fishing industry in the smallest country on mainland Africa. The makers of this film are following developments in Sierra Leone closely. The world is watching.
blackjohnsonlandowners@gmail.com
*Press release 9th May 2021*
Black Johnson Beach to be turned into a toxic industrial fish meal factory
#SaveBlackJohnsonBeach
The government of Sierra Leone has sold off 250 acres of protected rainforest and beach land to the Chinese. The proposed use is for fish meal production.
What this means is that vast quantities of fish are ground down to make fish meal pellets for export. Industrial fish meal production is hugely damaging to the environment. Fish meal factories discharge toxic chemicals. They destroy fish breeding grounds. They decimate fish stocks for local fishermen. They pollute both the land and ocean, killing fish, animals and plants. They wipe out the main local food source.
This cannot go ahead. It would cause an international ecological and national human disaster.
The environmental impact
It would destroy pristine rainforest, plunder fish stocks, pollute the marine environment and five individual eco systems that are fish breeding grounds and support endangered bird and wildlife species.
Part of the land earmarked is a lagoon in the dry season that opens as a river in the rainy season.The lagoon is a major breeding ground for many species of fish. The lagoon is the nursery. The young fish then move into the ocean when it opens into a river when the rains come. It flows into Whale Bay.
It is a very special place with five individual ecosystems in a small area. Polluting Whale Bay would decimate 1000’s of land and marine species including fish, turtles, dolphins, many bird species and, as the name suggests, whales. It is an area where pangolins, an endangered species, still breed and exist.
The human cost
If this is allowed to happen it will jeopardise the entire nation’s food security where 80% of the country’s protein comes from fish and artisanal fishing is most coastal families mainstay.
Residents would be forced from their homes
Fishermen and traders unable to make a living
Tourist businesses would be forced to close overnight causing unemployment and severe hardship
Food security in the country would be destroyed and people would not have enough to eat
According to first hand information, money has already been paid. A secretive deal has been done (confirmed on 6th May 2021).
We have sent open letters to the President and First Lady asking them to use their power to reverse this decision with immediate effect.
We are also calling for a judicial review and independent inquiry into this deal with the Chinese.
Turning fish into fish meal for export to feed pigs is not in the public interest.
The deal is corrupt and must be condemned by the international community.
This must be stopped. It is exploitation of the most brutal kind. The environment will be irreparably damaged and people will suffer.
We are petitioning H.E. President Julius Maada Bio and the Sierra Leone government.
Put an immediate end to this deal before irreparable damage is done. Sign the petition now.
Why should you care?
This is not a local issue, it is an international problem, the exploitation of fish stocks in West Africa affects the entire planet destroying vital resources and breeding grounds.
We are all the ultimate consumer of this toxic and merciless trade. Wherever you are in the world now is the time to act.
Use your voice to demonstrate to H.E. President Julius Maada Bio and his government that the world is watching.
International pressure is needed now to prevent this environmental catastrophe.
What can you do today to draw a line in the sand and make your voice heard;
Sign the petition now
https://www.change.org/SaveBlackJohnsonBeach
Contact H.E. President Julius Maada Bio and the Sierra Leone government yourself https://statehouse.gov.sl/contact/
Address: State Avenue, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Contact Numbers: +23276277001/+23276758764/+23288269282
Email: info@statehouse.gov.sl
Twitter: @PresidentBio
Contact the First Lady H.E. Fatima Maada Bio
https://firstlady.gov.sl/contact/
Address: 64 Spur Road, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Contact Numbers: +232 303 68273
Email: info@officeofthefirstlady.gov.sl
Twitter: @FirstLadyBio and @OfficeLeone
Wherever you are in the world remember they work for you. Contact your government representatives and urge them to contact H.E. President Julius Maada Bio and the Sierra Leone government on your behalf
Follow @JohnsonOwners spread the message - use the hashtags
#SaveBlackJohnsonBeach
#NoFishFarm
#TheWorldisWatching
For information contact James
blackjohnsonlandowners@gmail.com
+34641992526
*Ends*
Further information
See the devastating examples of fish meal production in The Gambia, here the journalist Ian Urbina investigates the human and ecological cost of the booming farm fishing industry in the smallest country on mainland Africa.
Watch How Fish-Meal Production Is Destroying Gambia's Waters
To the First Lady H.E. Fatima Maada Bio 9th May 2021
I am writing to you to urge you to use your influence to try and prevent the human and environmental disaster that will happen to the people of the peninsula beaches if the decision to sell Black Johnson and Whale Bay land to the Chinese to build a fish farm is allowed to go ahead.
I am one of the families that will be directly affected. My husband is a fisherman and we have run a small and internationally popular tourist business from our home on one of the beaches for over 11 years. Our family, our neighbours and employees have their livelihoods tied to the beach.
You are known for your work to promote the health and wellbeing of girls but this will have a devastating effect on the young women in the peninsula area. Many of these young women are employed in the tourist business or make their living selling fish. If this is gone, which it will be if this plan is allowed to go ahead, these opportunities will be closed to them.
You know that lack of employment opportunities forces many young women onto the street or into prostitution. It would be terrible after all the work you have done for young women if this government becomes known for destroying any prospects for young women on and around the peninsula.
This fish farm involves massive factory development. It causes pollution and renders the sea full of blood and dead fish and destroys the local fishing stock.
There has been much international outrage at this proposal since it became known on Thursday.
It is being closely monitored by many international observers, including embassies, development organisations and environmentalists.
Please use your influence to stop this dreadful thing happening.
Watch the documentary below for what happened in Gambia. The journalist Ian Urbina is following the unfolding story in Sierra Leone.
This can be stopped now.
Yours respectfully