True to his recent promise of taking stringent measures to protect the territorial waters of Sierra Leone during the launching ceremony of a site for the building of a jetty and other ancillary facilities in Goderich, Freetown, President Ernest Bai Koroma today made an on-the-spot tour of fishing-surveillance vessels of the naval wing of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed forces (RSLAF) at their maritime headquarters at Government Wharf, Freetown.

The President and entourage, after taking a presidential salute from naval officers, was taken on a conducted tour of the navy's 'Sir Milton' boat by Capt. PJB Yokie, and of the private-owned 'Rock Fish' boat by Capt David King.

President Koroma stated that a more robust approach to protecting our waters should be adopted with immediate effect and all poachers caught brought to book. He said there should be a coordination of all the maritime agencies including the navy and the Ministry of Marine Resources. He revealed that the UNDP was in the process of supporting the sector in order to beef up their activities. "We should not wait, we should not delay the process; keep doing your work until the UNDP and other support comes."

In explaining about the capacity and capability of the 'Sir Milton' boat, Capt Yokie said the vessel has all the required equipment like a raider to see objects as far as 25 nautical miles and the necessary speed to track down any other fishing craft. He said they recently apprehended some poachers, but are daunted by lack of adequate logistics. On his part, Capt. King said his vessel has anti-piracy monitoring devices, including detectors, forward-looking infrared and video-recording equipment.

Before leaving, the President said there would be the need for air protection for the naval vessels, and that within sixty days the joint operations would have started after details of such operations would have been sorted immediately after the tour.

Present at the ceremony were Vice President Chief Sam Sumana, Minister of Defence Paolo Conteh, Acting Minister of Marine Resources Rosalind Oya Sankoh and the military top brass, including Chief of Defence Staff Nelson Williams, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff R.Y. Koroma and Joint Forces Commander S.O. Williams.