Mr Richster Nii Armah Amarfio, Secretary of the Ghana Tuna Association (GTA), says Ghana is overexploiting its fish stock and needs a holistic approach to curb it.
Mr. Amarfio, who is also a fisheries advocate, said the country has exceeded its maximum sustainable yield, indicating overexploitation of fish stocks.
"That basically means we're losing fish stocks, so we have to find ways to reverse that to make sure we're sustainable."
Mr. Amarfio stated this during a seminar at the Tema regional office of the Ghana News Agency.
The platform enabled state and non-state actors to address national issues.
The GTA secretary said overcapacity was a major contributor to Ghana's rapidly declining fish stocks, adding that too many fishing activities were taking place in the country's marine areas, making it almost impossible to restore lost fish stocks.
He expressed concern that capacity will increase due to the open fishing system Ghana operates in the absence of a functioning regulatory mechanism.
He therefore called for further interventions such as a pension scheme to supplement the closure period, as this alone will not solve the overcapacity problem.
He explained that data from the latest fisheries management plan, a World Bank project, Ghana had about 15,000 canoes against 9,000 canoes, the limit needed in its waters, with 6,000 canoes to spare.
He said the country had more than 100 trawlers in the past compared to the proposal of 45. Currently, the country has agreed to 75 trawlers in its waters.
Mr. Amarfio also reiterated the call for a special pension scheme for old fishermen to provide them with a decent source of income in their old age, which would facilitate their early retirement, leading to a large number of them being permanently removed from the industry .
He said besides pension, a thoughtful education policy should be initiated for youth in fishing communities to absorb them into other occupations as a way to reduce over reliance on fishing activities in coastal communities.
“If I was a fisherman and I had three kids and each of them had five kids, and we all decided to go fishing, that's a lot from one family alone.
“One canoe may be too small for us, and we may need more; the more families have to rely solely on fishing, the more the capacity will increase, but if you give children education and alternative occupations, they will not all have to go back to the industry,” he explained.
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