Economic activities in the Coastal regions of Ghana have returned to normalcy following the lifting of the ban on fishing by the government. The one month ban was lifted on June 16, 2019.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development in collaboration with the Fisheries Commission announced the closure of the season for artisanal fishing from May 15, to June 15, 2019.
The closed season was in accordance with sections 76 (3) and 84 of the Fisheries Act 2002 (Act 625) which aims at helping to reduce excessive pressure and overexploitation of fish stock in Ghana’s marine waters. It was also part of the measures to regenerate the country’s fast-depleting fish stocks.
The sector minister, Hon. Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye, claims that some members of the fishing community are requesting for an extension of the closed season due to the positive outcome of the exercise.
Though The Coastal Eye’s checks at Winneba, James Town, Cape Coast, and Tema after the lifting of the ban by the government corroborated with the assertions of the minister that fishermen made bumper harvests, we believe that a technical assessment ought to be conducted by the ministry to analyse the impact to better inform government about future actions.
According to the World Bank report in 2009, an estimated 210,000 people work directly in Ghana’s fisheries sector, and the sector employs, directly or indirectly, 2.2 million people or 20 per cent of the population.
The fisheries sector contributes $1 billion in revenue each year accounting to about 1.1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Therefore, any policy affecting the sector must be critically analysed to ascertain its impact so that a sheer number of the citizenry would not be left impoverished to exacerbate the unemployment situation in the country.
The Coastal Eye’s interaction with fishermen in Cape Coast and Elmina revealed that the government made no alternative livelihood plans to sustain them during the closed season.
This, we believe, leaves much to be desired looking at the current economic challenges that Ghanaians, in general, are facing.
We call for alternative livelihood plan for the fisherfolks in subsequent closed seasons so that economic activities in the coastal communities will continue unabated. This calls for extensive consultation and stakeholder engagements to arrive at a win-win situation for all.
It is crucial to bring to the fore the activities that have necessitated the observance of the closed season. The fishing industry in Ghana over the years has been saddled with bad fishing practices such as dynamite fishing, transhipment, light fishing, pair-trawling and other illegal fishing methods.
These Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing practices keep depleting the fishing stocks.
Small pelagic fish which include anchovies, mackerel, and sardines popularly known as ‘the people’s fish’ because of their importance to local economies, nutrition and food security in the country, make up to 80 per cent of total marine fish caught and landed in Ghana.
Total landings of the people’s fish in Ghana have decreased by 86 per cent from 138,955 metric tons (MT) in 1996 to 19,608 MT in 2016.
The worrying development definitely calls for a pragmatic action to be taken to restore the fast-depleting fishing stocks in the country’s marine waters.
The Coastal Eye, therefore, wishes to re-echo the call by the sector minister at the official opening of the sea at Prampram for all players in the sector to desist from illegal fishing practices in order to safeguard the nation’s aquaculture.
“The onus is on all and sundry to safeguard the fisheries sector for posterity. We need to be law-abiding to avoid all forms of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
The ban is being lifted but the laws prohibiting light fishing and use of obnoxious chemicals and unorthodox methods of fishing are still in force,” said the minister.
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