Sierra Leone - State of the Marine Environment 2015

correspondingly experience an increasing stress. However, the degree of coastal resources exploitation is to a large extent influenced by the population of the entire country in general and by the coastal population in particular. The coastal population is not uniformly distributed. In the north, around the Scarcies River and Lungi areas, the population is around 80,000 whilst in the Freetown Peninsula areas it is about 1,250,000. In the south around Shenge, the population is close to 9,000 inhabitants and is around 8,000 in the Bonthe Sherbro area. The population of the coastal area is therefore approximately 1,347,000 persons. With an annual growth rate of about 2.5% it is important that a sound policy for the national exploitation of the coastal resources be pursued with the parallel development of appropriate institutional framework. 1.3. Socio-cultural and political structure As indicated earlier, the social structures of the districts where the coastal resources are located are similar except for the Western Area. In the districts, there are chiefdoms each of which is ruled locally by paramount chiefs representing the various tribes in the chiefdom. Chiefdom councils made up of tribal authorities (chiefdom councilors) are set up to administer the chiefdoms and to advice the paramount chiefs who in turn coordinate with district councils etc. The villages are headed by headmen and village area committees administer the villages. The lowest level is the household level. These socio-cultural and political structures have a significant role in the development of effective management strategies for the coastal resources. In the Western Area, the administration is under the supervision of the Freetown City Council, which in turn coordinates with the various village area committees, tribal headmen and district councils. Sierra Leone is a country where religious (as well as non- religious and within the context of tribal based traditional societies) traditions and customs are widely observed. The socio-economic activities of coastal communities include boat building, handicrafts, fishing, farming, animal husbandry (livestock rearing), petty trading and coastal Marine aggregates, minerals, oil and gas There is a limited variety of natural resources found and extracted from the coastal area of Sierra Leone (Tab. 1.1). Diamond, gold, iron, ore, platinum, copper, cobalt, zircon andmanganese nodules are reported to be present offshore. It is however worth noting that exploitation of natural resources is entirely in the hands of foreign companies and the national programs for development and use of these marine resources are not advanced. These quantities of natural resources are likely to be conservative estimates as exact data are not always available. Exploration and prospecting for oil and gas is currently in progress. marine transport. 1.4. Economy

Coarse Aggregates Alluvial gravel deposits in the coastal zone of Sierra Leone have not been assessed and no data are available regarding its exploitation in areas within and outside the zone. Fine Aggregates Beach sand is being extracted from beaches along the entire Sierra Leone Coast as construction material. However, data on the quantity extracted is anecdotal. Clay Clay soil is being extracted near beach areas and rivers. Traditionally, the clay soil is used for brick and ceramic making. The clay factory in Freetown used to produce about 130,000 bricks annually for both local consumption and export. If clay extraction is not controlled, the result will be a change in land-use to a non-vegetable open area vulnerable to erosion and a reduction in nearby water quality due to runoff. Hard Rock Hard rock has been mined along the banks of coastal streams as a source of construction material for the development of road networks and for export by foreign companies. Salt Salt production is gradually developing with a few ponds but is still at a rudimentary stage. However, there is a need to improve the national capacity to produce more and better quality salt with well-developed national programs for development and use of the resource. The extraction of a limited variety of minerals from the coastal area of Sierra Leone particularly ilmenite and zircon, but also the extraction of coltan, hard rock and sand aggregates have led to an increase in the sediment load of the shoreline water column. Worst areas include the northern and southern coastal districts. Port infrastructure, transportation, trade Harbor infrastructure has been recognized as a possible threat to coastal and marine ecosystems through the modification of the coastal water dynamics, sediment dynamics and disruption of benthic habitats, flyways

Table 1.1: Annual estimate of mineral resources exploited from the coastal zones of Sierra Leone (Chaytor 1985)

Quantity (Metric tons) 80,000

Natural resource Sand and gravel Rutile Ilmenite Zircon Monazite

2,300,000 1,800,000 230,000 2,500

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