All fishermen who fail to use permitted fishing nets will be penalised beginning in September 2022.
Moses Anim, the Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, who issued the warning, pleaded with all fishermen to heed the instruction without delay in order to avoid running afoul of the law.
He said that as part of its efforts to save the nation's fisheries industry, the Ministry had decided, following several talks with pertinent parties, to enforce compliance with laws on equipment, notably fishing nets.
On Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Accra, Ghana, Mr. Anim delivered a speech at a media training programme for journalists from the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC) member nations.
FCWC
In order to encourage and ease collaboration in fisheries management among its member nations—Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Liberia, Benin, and Cote d'Ivoire—the FCWC was founded in 2007.
Workshop
With assistance from the FCWC, Hen Mpoano, a non-governmental organisation in the fisheries sector, organised the workshop.
The goal of the training, which included journalists and experts from the FCWC nations, was to provide the participants with pertinent information on fisheries governance in the West African sub-region, including increased transparency, effective law enforcement, collaborative management, and capacity building of important stakeholders in Ghana and the sub-region.
Firm actions
Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, according to the Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, must be dealt with harshly and without mercy.
According to him, the government would not stand by while a small group of self-centered fishermen used destructive fishing gear to deplete the nation's fisheries resources at the expense of the vast majority of people whose lives depended on the industry.
shared accountability
Papayaw Atobra, the head of the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Unit of the Fisheries Commission (FC), stated that because it was the nation's principal duty to safeguard its fisheries resources, it was necessary to enact all strict and practical measures to combat IUU fishing.
He stated, "We have a responsibility to manage our fishery resources for the benefit of our people and those yet unborn," adding that the nation has a duty to "provide food security for our people and to provide livelihood for our people."
Mr. Atobra believed that in order to combat IUU, the government needed to work with the international community and that ocean governance was not the sole purview of one country.
To combat coastal poverty, which, he added, frequently drives many actors in the fisheries sector to engage in IUU fishing in the nation, he also urged strong institutional coordination and the adoption of the appropriate legislation.
Continue to work
He believed that the nation's incapacity to continue monitoring, controlling, and surveillance of its fishing industry, particularly with regard to IUU, was to blame for the nation's second Yellow Card from the European Union (EU).
The EU officially warns trading partners who don't take action against IUU with the "Yellow Card."