No excuse for Human trafficking

Shama (W/R), Sept. 20, GNA - Fishermen at Shama have appealed to the government to stop foreign fishing vessels that adopt illegal fishing methods in Ghana's territorial waters.

They said fishermen could not understand why no action was being taken against foreign vessels that adopted pair trawling because it was contributing to the depletion of fish stocks. The fishermen said this at a forum at which Mr. Daniel Dugan, Deputy Minister for Women and Children's Affairs, spoke to them about child trafficking.

Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC) organised the forum to sensitise the people on negative effects of human trafficking. The fishermen said pair trawling had rendered the local fishermen impoverished because of the low catch even in major seasons thereby forcing them to shirk their responsibilities to their families. Mr. Dugan said the temporary ban on pair trawling by the Ministry of Fisheries was part of the move to check different forms of fishing that tended to destroy fish stocks.

He said a Vessel Monitoring System was being put in place to monitor the operation of foreign vessels in the country's waters. Mr. Philip Kwesi Nkrumah, the Metropolitan Chief Executive, said some of the fishermen were contributing to the decline in the fishing industry by adopting unorthodox methods of fishing including the use of aggregated lights and winch nets. He alleged that some of the fishermen instead of bringing their catch home to sell prefer to sell them on the high seas to foreign fishermen.

Mr. Nkrumah appealed to the fishermen to help to enforce laws governing the fishing industry by reporting to the authorities the activities of foreign fishermen who flout the laws.