With funding from the Whitstable Oyster Trading Company in the United Kingdom, the 6th Annual Oyster Festival took place in Bonthe Town, Shabro Island on the 10th and 11th of May 2024.
For the first time the festival was over two days with the first day featuring a canoe safety competition. Competitors were drawn from York Island, Gbongboma, Nyadehun, King Jimmy, Bonthibai, Yainkain, as well as Bonthe Town. Competitors showcased their talents in a competition that not only broughtout the best of seafood recipes from the district, but also smoked oysters, other shellfish and one of the highlights of the Festival, the speed opening competition. Over the years the Festival has helped improve quality of oyster products and has consistently strived to allow producers to add values to their products.
Dr. Salieu Kabba Sankoh, research Fellow/Lecturer at the Institute of Marine Biology and Oceanography and the Department of Biological Sciences, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone explained that the Oyster Festival is an initiative that was developed to provide alternative livelihood opportunities for Marine Protected Areas fisherwomen in Sherbro River Estuary communities.
He said through the Whitstable Oyster Trading Company in the UK, and earlier, the Darwin Initiative, funded through theDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in the UK, they have been able to do research work on shellfish and have been able to promote the oyster festival for the past 8years (we cancelled two festivals due to public safety regulations during the COVID-19 crisis).
Through our work with DEFRA, UK and Whistable Oyster Trading Company, UK , we have been able to reduce pressure on mangrove forests in the Sherbro River Estuary, Profitability of female oyster gathering has increased through testing and adoption of extended product ‘shelf-life’ and value added processing techniques. We were able to increase Safety and seasonality of female oyster through localised re-use of shell waste for low-input-output growth enhancements of oysters onmud banks, and the demand for value-added products created through branding and promotion of oyster,” he said.
Prof Richard Wordsworth, from the Biological Science department at the Njala University of Sierra Leone, said that the oyster festival marked the end point of lots of work they have been putting together over the years to ensure quality and quantity. He said “at the first festival many entries to the smoked oyster competition scored poorly as they contained sand, grit, or shell fragments, now, it is very rare that we find and entry with any of these contaminants. There has been a similar improvement in the quality of the cooked oyster dishes, and although tasting 58 dishes in less than 2 hours is a challenge, each year we have found judges up to the task”.
Professor Wordsworth highlighted the impact of the Darwin Initiative project when they started the Oyster festival in 2017. This he said changed the whole narrative of oyster trade in the island.
As part of the Whitstable Oyster Trading Company’s support, he said they have also been able to introduce a boat safety competition for the first time with participants drawn from many of the surrounding fishing communities.
For many years we have been concerned with the frequent tragedies that affect these communities. A canoe that is ladened with oysters can be caught out by a quick change in the weather and can sink rapidly. Last year we hosted a boat safety demonstration where paddlers deliberately capsized their canoes and then righted them and paddled back. We are strongly of the opinion that races and competitions rather than lectures and posters are the way to get people thinking and talking about what to do if a canoe capsizes. This year we had more than 20 boats entered and we attracted a large crowd. We have already started discussing how to make next years’ coemption even better said Professor Wordsworth. He expressed hope that the boat Safety competition will increase safety awareness for those harvesting the oysters since it is a risky trade.
Rashid Sie, the winner for the Oyster shucking competition said that before the launching of such project, they were not realizing the benefit of oyster fishing due to lack of knowledge. But with the help of this program, their livelihoods have improved greatly.
Laibiru Sandi and Dauda Kong, emerged winners for the boat safety competition; beating over forty competitors.
They expressed joy and thanked the organizers for allowing them to demonstrate their skills and so spread knowledge throughout the community. “We all know people who have been lost while fishing or harvesting oysters, if we help even one person know what to do, that will be a blessing”. .
