10 / 74
10
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 transport.
1.4. Economy
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.
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
Natural resource
Sand and gravel
Rutile
Ilmenite
Zircon
Monazite
Quantity (Metric tons)
80,000
2,300,000
1,800,000
230,000
2,500
Table 1.1:
Annual estimate of mineral resources
exploited from the coastal zones of Sierra Leone
(Chaytor 1985)