A report by Jackline Favour Asassey
The Executive Director of Center for Maritime Law and Security (CEMLAWS) Africa, Dr Kamal-Deen Ali, has called on Ghana to strengthen access arrangement on distance water fishing Vessels.
The fishing industry in Ghana is based on resources from the marine and inland freshwater sectors as well as coastal lagoons.
He made the call at a media training workshop organized for journalists by CEMLAWS Africa in partnership with Center for Coastal Management (CCM) University of Cape Coast.
The workshop was intended to build capacity of the media and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). Thirty selected journalists from electronic, print media outlets and academia benefitted from the training.
The training focused on ‘’Promoting local capacity to address destabilizing impacts of foreign fishing vessel in the Gulf of Guinea and Mauritania.”
Dr. Ali said, “In the case of Ghana, we don’t have access arrangement, what we have in both the Tuna and the industrial sector is that, vessels come or people come and then they’ll enter into partnership with Ghanaians and then fish.’’
There are wide variety of fishes available in Ghana’s waters, this includes cassava fish, flat sardinella, red pandora, red snapper, yellowfin among others.
Aside the importance of healthy well-balanced diet, it also creates significant employment opportunities for many Ghanaians.
The small- scale artisanal marine fishing communities contribute about 30% of the traditional sector.
Dr. Ali also disclosed that Ghana is ranked among top ten (10) countries with high dependance on fish.
‘’We depend heavily on fish one of the top ten (10) country in the world, so we cannot take fish for granted. We must make this a resource that is protected,’’ he noted.
The project is aimed at ensuring Greater Transparency, Better Governance and Accountability across the sub region.
As a multi stakeholder issue, Dr. Ali charged the journalists to be on the lookout, monitor, interrogate and raise questions regarding the sector.
Key aspect is that vessels licensed to fish are supposed to fish in a sustainable manner and a considerable way which protects the rights of others and most importantly our future security as a country.
Key findings indicate that industry players do not have access to requisite information, data collection and information is more private.
Dr. Ali also raised concerns about the health status of fishes in Ghana’s territorial waters.
He stressed the need to conduct consistent and scientific research to know the different species and the level at which they are in our fresh waters.
“We don’t know the health status of our fishes; we are still not sure as we speak in terms of the complete health of the fish. What is the biomass that we have, what is its sustainability?’’
A study by the world bank of Ghana reveals that households in Ghana spend about 22.4% of their food budget on fish consumption while poor household allocate about 25.7%
In Ghana the average per capital fish consumption is said to be around 20-25kg which is higher than the world average of 13kg.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture is putting in more efforts to reform the fisheries sector.
The project is funded by US Department of State and Co-implemented by CEMLAWS Africa with Center for Coastal Management -CCM University of Cape-Coast.
The project is also being implemented in different countries which includes Benin Mauritania, Cameroun, Senegal, Cote D’lvoire, and Sierra Leone.
CEMLAWS Africa pledges to work closely with the media to facilitate fisheries governance.
Dr. Kamal-Deen Ali cautioned journalists not to endanger or risk their lives in the line of duty.
Script Writer: Jackline Favour Asassey
Script Editor: Tawiah Mensah
Tags
CEMLAW Africa
CCM-UCC
Media
Fisheries
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