Fisherfolk Up in Arms With Govt

Tension is at its peak in the fishing industry following government's directives for the arrest of vessels applying lighting to attract fish into fishing nets.

At least, 500 wooden vessels belonging to the Ghana Inshore Fisheries Association (GIFA) whose members are using this method have been moored at the ports and jetties along the country's coast over the past week.

This is because of fear of being arrested by the navy at sea.

Chronicle investigations revealed that whereas government is defending its stand to halt the method, which is described as dangerous and likely to deplete our waters of fish stock, especially juvenile fish, the fishermen contend that it is a way of throwing their section out of business.

Then the way will be paved for canoe fishermen whose numerical strength the government is trying to solicit to beef up political votes. Again, the importation of fish will become necessary for party loyal to get involved.

The president of GIFA, Mr. Victor Avorkliya, declined to comment on the political attribution but confirmed that their vessels cannot go to sea for fear of being apprehended by the navy.

According to him, it is true that canoe fishermen are given preferential treatment to the detriment of the wooden vessel operators.

He stated that the cost of renewing their fishing licences annually shot up to ?4 million and each wooden vessel at sea burns three drums of fuel at ?800,000 daily costing ?2.4 million per trip.

This excludes the cost of ice, now fixed at ?1 million per 1? tonnes being preparative before they embark on their expeditions, aside food for the crew.

Mr. Avorkliya said that sometimes after these investments the vessels return empty having roamed the high seas without catching fish simply because the fisheries department failed to provide monitoring and surveillance equipment to guide fishermen at sea. Since the introduction of lighting to attract the fish, there had been great improvement not only in their businesses but also catches.

He cited port dues and other taxes they pay yet they sell a crate of fish for about ?120,000 whereas the imported fish sells at ?200,000 and over.

The GIFA president told Chronicle that the belief that using lighting system in fishing will deplete the sea of juvenile fish is debatable.

According to him, the sea method is used in the Scandinavian countries, Angola and Mauritania where large consignments of fish imported into Ghana are obtained.

He also stated that the sizes of nets they have been using are not different from what is used when the light is applied.

He therefore called on government to institute a scientific investigation into their operations else, huge sums of money that can be used to cater for the health and educational needs of our people will continue to be sunk into the importation of fish which could have been obtained locally.

Every year, ?300 billion is spent on the importation of fish.

The Minister of Agriculture in charge of fisheries and Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema East, Hon. Ismael Ashietey, when reached dispelled reports that canoe fishermen are being protected for political votes.

According to him the canoe fishermen are protected all over the world. He stated that information reaching the ministry is that if the lighting method is not checked, generations to come will not have fish because of the trapping of juvenile fish.

Hon. Ashietey said that for Ghana to be sufficient in fish, we need about ?1.8 trillion to meet the one million metric tonnes capacity.

Currently, the total importation stands at 100,000 metric tonnes for which ?300 billion is spent, total production stands at 400,000 metric tonnes.

On naval patrols, the minister said, it is not enough to check activities of fishing vessels using the lighting system to catch fish and that government is going to procure vessel monitoring system gadgets to keep surveillance on fishermen.

Sources close to the Fisheries Department told Chronicle that the problem between the GIFA and the canoe council stems from the fact that government shows a softer heart to the canoe operators than the wooden vessels.

The sources hinted that canoe fishermen, since 1987, have been receiving outboard motors from government at reduced prices and that very soon 1,000 outboard motors are to be distributed to the canoe fishermen, costing ?20 million each. There are about 9,000 canoes from Aflao to Half Assini.