Thus, the use of lights, chemicals, explosives, under mesh size nets, bamboo among others will no longer find space in the fishing industry and will be treated as a criminal offence when one of found to engaging in the use of the aforementioned methods.

The consensus was reached a stakeholders meeting organized by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development on Fisheries Law Enforcement held in Accra on Tuesday June 20, 2017.

The meeting which was on the theme: “Safeguarding our Health and Livelihood” gave the fisher folks the opportunity to express their views on various practices in the industry and also proffer solutions to addressing them.

Speaking at the meeting, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mrs. Elizabeth Afoley Quaye noted that weak and inadequate fisheries law enforcement and noncompliance have been identified as the weakest link in the country’s fisheries management leading to consistent decline in stocks of fish within the country’s waters.

“The current exploitation rate of the fisheries resources of this country is not sustainable and the indiscriminate use of explosive, chemicals, under mesh size nets, light, bamboo and other fish aggregating devices to fish will lead to the collapse of the resources very soon if no serious action is taken”.  And when this happens, the consequences on economic, social, nutritional and food security of the country will be very devastating. To her, the use of chemicals have serious implications for the industry because it wipes out fishery resources since many of the poisoned fishes not harvested rot at the bottom of the sea thereby polluting the environment.

She noted that the Ministry has therefore developed a comprehensive Fisheries Management Plan to help avert further decline and reverse the fish stock depletion in our waters.

The Fisheries Management Plan will therefore provide strategic framework that will ensure the fishery resources are harvested sustainably.

The key management measures to be implemented include:
1.    Reducing the current levels of fishing efforts and fishing capacity;
2.    Improving information on fisheries biology and stock assessment to support a stock rebuilding strategy;
3.    Effective enforcement of fisheries legislation;
4.    Protecting marine habitat to conserve biodiversity; and
5.    Product certification and reducing post-harvest loses.

Madam Afoley Quaye also called on the fisher folks to support activities of the Fisheries Watch Volunteers to achieve result adding that FWV will help compliment the works of the Fisheries Enforcement Unit so that those who are bent on doing the bad things can be brought to book.

She also assured the fishermen of measures by government to gradually eliminate all under mesh size nets, as well as rubber nets from the system by supplying the fishermen with te required and approved nets