She stated that, 210,000 persons and an additional 2.2 million people in Ghana are along the Fish value Chain in fishing and fisheries practices.

Thus, the fishing industry offers one of the biggest economic opportunities for the people of Ghana and has been identified as one of the highest consumers of fish on the African Continent with a per caput consumption of over 25 kg/year.

Ms. Afoley Quaye who was speaking at a USAID/UCC Fisheries and Coastal Management capacity building support project workshop on Wednesday at Prampram in the Ningo/Prampram District of the Greater Accra Region also added that fisheries sector rakes in an estimated US $1 Billion in revenue each year, constituting nearly 4.5% of GDP.

According to her, in spite of the impressive statics of the performance of the industry, Ghana still imports an estimated 50% of the annual fish requirement of domestic usage. “This is not accepted in the community that boast of fishermen whose dexterity is matched anywhere of the African continent when it comes to fishing’’ noted the Minister.

The sector Minister thinks something must be going wrong and called for coordinated efforts from relevant institutions and universities to improve the sector.

The workshop brought together academic people who are into fisheries and coastal management to develop a work plan on issues relating to the development and welfare of the fisheries practitioners and their surroundings.

Touching on the challenges Ms. Afoley Quaye said the fishing industry is massively overcapitalised, unsustainable fishing methods, pollution of coastal ecosystems through bad practices including galamsey, the continuous decline in fish stock, child trafficking from the Landing Beaches and general degradation of coastal environments among others.