Closed Fishing Season Not To Starve Fisherfolks - Minister

Madam Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture has said the closed fishing season is to improve Ghana's dwindling fishing stock and not to starve people whose livelihood is dependent on the ocean.

     The measure was to help better the lives of the people through bumper harvest in the coming season.

     She was addressing fishermen and mongers in the Keta Municipality on the one month ban and said, research had shown that if such measures were not enforced, the nation could lose its fish stock within three to five years.

     She noted that until recently, fishermen recorded bumper harvest between July and August every season and said complaints of low or no catches signalled a depleting fish stock.

     The Minister therefore appealed to fishing communities to voluntarily comply with the directives.

     She said the Naval Command of the Ghana Navy would intensify patrol of Ghana’s borders during the period to ward off trawlers which would want to take advantage of the initiative to fish within the nation’s water bodies. 

     She added that some interventions had been put in place to mitigate the economic, financial and social effect.

     Madam Quaye said these included alternative livelihood schemes through the collection and processing of plastic for money by the majority of the fisher folks, affected by the initiative.

     The Landing Beach Committees were expected to use some fixed portions of the 53 percent of pre-mixed fuel margins meant for development to cushion fishers identified within their beach committees.