Story: News Desk Report
FISHERMEN across the country have blamed illegal activities of foreign trawlers for the near collapse of the fishing industry in the country.
From Tema through Takoradi to Axim, spokesmen for the various fishermen groupings told the Daily Graphic that their profession was fast dying as a result of pair-trawling being practised by the foreign vessels in spite of a ban imposed on the activity by the government of Ghana.
Pair trawling involves two large vessels in parallel motion with a giant net between them, which completely sweeps the sea bed, depleting the country’s fish stock, as well as fingerlings.
The Minister of Fisheries, Mrs Gladys Asmah, told the Daily Graphic yesterday that pair trawling had been banned in the country, since the ministry issued a notice in February 2005 to completely ban it, but the ministry did not have patrol boats to enforce it or monitor the activities of fishermen.
According to her, anyone who embarked on pair trawling was liable for prosecution.
She, therefore, urged fishermen to give the identities of boats that embarked on pair trawling for prosecution.
Mrs Asmah emphasised that the Navy, which was expected to patrol the waters on behalf of the ministry, was also constrained and it was, therefore, imperative for fishermen to co-operate with the ministry in curbing illegal fishing activities.
The other drawback to fishing in the country, according to the practitioners, is the large volumes of plastic waste and other pollutants from industrial waste discharges, as well as oil spillage from vessels transporting petroleum products, and dead fish thrown into the sea by Chinese fishing trawlers.
The situation, they said, was killing interest in fishing, particularly among the youth, and, therefore, called for immediate government intervention to salvage the profession from collapse.
In Accra, Kofi Yeboah reports that the acting chief fisherman at Osu, Nii Apan Jamloja, said since Chinese fishing vessels emerged on the territorial waters of Ghana over the past four years, the fortunes of local fishermen had kept dwindling.
“If by next year, the situation has not improved and anyone goes to sea and gets a bowl full of fish, I can assure you they did not come from the sea but dropped from heaven,” he remarked.
It is not known how plastic waste materials have polluted the sea, but the extent to which such materials have choked the estuary of the Klottey Lagoon at Osu, ready to be flushed into the sea, gives a vivid idea about the situation.
The lagoon, which used to produce fish in the past, is now virtually dead as it keeps shrinking in size and becoming shallower due to siltation and pollution.
Nii Jamloja said the pair trawlers collected every fish that came their way after which their operators selected what they wanted and threw the rest into the sea.
The discarded fish keeps afloat the sea and the stench that emanates from them drives all the fish away from that particular spot, making it difficult for the local fishermen to make any meaningful catch.
The fishermen said sometimes, the trawlers destroyed their canoes, recalling an instance in which two Chinese fishing trawlers dragged a local fishing canoe, causing it to capsize and killing two of their colleagues in the process.
Another major challenge facing the fishermen is the high expenditure they make on pre-mix fuel, which currently sells at GH¢3.70 per gallon, and iced blocks, but for which they get little returns.
For a three-day journey at sea, the fishermen spend about GH¢400 and GH¢700 for a week’s journey.
According to them, although they had made a lot of noise about their predicament, there had not been any official intervention to address their concerns.
From Tema, Rose Hayford Darko reports that fishermen at the Canoe Beach at the Tema Fishing Harbour have appealed to the Ministry of Fisheries to take immediate steps to save the current situation in which they invest GH¢300 on fuel for a trip only to return with two boxes of fish, which cost not more than GH¢50.
According to them, the use of light at sea by bigger foreign vessels had in the past four years reduce fish stock in the immediate sea environment to the advantage of these vessels on the high seas, while they also poached small-sized fish, which they later dumped into the sea dead.
Speaking with the Daily Graphic at the Tema Fishing Harbour, Nii Attah Anum Gbegbemi, an elder of the Chief Fishermen, said fishermen in Tema now had to sit around idling.
He said there were over 500 canoes operating from the Tema beach, with between 12 and 15 fishermen on each, and noted that pair trawling had pushed most of them out of job.
At 9:30 am on Monday, the beach was full of grounded canoes, which had returned without any catch.
Fresh fish sellers at the beach had also turned to frozen fish because according to them they could not afford to be out of season.
However, there was brisk business at the cold stores where some fish dealers had come from the hinterland to buy for sale at their various destinations.
One important platform where such concerns of fishermen are adequately addressed is the Fisheries Commission, but according to the National Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF), Mr Joseph Dziwornu, the association, which has representation on the commission, had not been invited to any meeting since 2000.
From Sekondi, Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, reports that pair trawling is pushing thousands of local fishermen out of job since they usually came back from sea with no catch.
Checks in the markets indicate that unlike previous years, fish is scarce and expensive although the country is supposed to be in the fishing season.
Explanations given by some fishermen in separate interviews indicated that this year’s season had not been favourable because of the all-year fishing expedition by foreign industrial fishing vessels which allegedly have some Ghanaians fronting as owners.
“This is our season where we are expected to catch a lot of herrings and other assorted fishes but the pair trawling by industrial vessel which fish all year round have resulted in low catch on our part,” they said.
The foreign fishermen allegedly undertake pair trawling under heavy light and catch bountifully, after which they select what they are permitted to catch, call their customers along the shores of Cape Coast and Sekondi and sell the remaining fish to them .
They added that if their customers failed to reach them, they then wrapped the unwanted fish and dumped it at sea to stop them from floating ashore for the authorities to discover their illegal activities.
“As a result, when we return from fishing with our little catch, which is fresh, we do not get the price for it and we lose greatly because the people who buy the dead fish from the foreigners sell them at lower prices.
One of the fishermen, Mr Eben Afful from Axim, said they had been experiencing the low catch for the past five years.
He said even though the temperature of the sea around August resulted in bumper catches in the past, “what is happening now is different because we go and come back empty handed”. He stated that the situation at present was as a result of the depletion.
According to Nana Jojo Solomon, the chief fisherman at Cape Coast , the only way to solve the problem was to regulate the industrial vessels.
When contacted, the Regional Director of Fisheries, Mr Alex Addo, acknowledged the complaint by the fishermen, and said it was due to human and natural factors.
He said the natural factors had to do with the temperature at sea, while he attributed the human factor to pair trawling as well as the use of light and dynamite by some of the fishermen.
He said the ministry was aware of the alleged offshore trading among the industrial vessels and some fishermen, which he described as illegal.
He said a community-based check system involving the chief fishermen had been put in place and would be made operational soon.
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