Fishing With Trawlers Now Preserve Of Ghanaians

Under a new fisheries law passed by parliament, trawling for fish in Ghana's territorial waters is now reserved solely for Ghanaians.

The law, currently awaiting Presidential assent, also stipulated that 50 percent of investment in Tuna fishing was reserved for Ghanaians instead of 25 percent in the past while foreigners could invest in the remaining 50 percent.

Mr Ishmael Ashietey, Minister of State in charge of Fisheries, announced this at the end of year get-together of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority workers of the Tema Fishing harbour at Tema on Saturday.

Mr Ashietey said this year the government would bring in some fishing vessels to enable Ghanaians to produce fish locally, saying that for the past few years the concentration had been on the importation of fish.

The intention was to raise annual local production from 400,000 to 500,000 metric tonnes while in the area of Tuna production government was inviting foreign participation to increase annual production from 70,000 to 100,000 metric tonnes.

Mr Anthony Jim-Fugar, Tema Fishing Harbour Manager in a welcoming address noted that output through the fishing harbour had been on the decline. For example, total fish landed dropped from 64,000 tonnes in 1999 to 59,000 tonnes in 2000 while it went up slightly to 62,000 tonnes last year.

Mr Jim-Fugar said fish imports also dropped sharply from 40,00 tonnes to 6,000 tonnes in 2000 and 3,000 tonnes in 2001, but noted that it was a good sign for the local fishing industry. The figure for imported fish did not give the true reflection of what was landed in Tema since bigger vessels discharged at the Tema main harbour.

He said, this year, the fishing harbour would be dredged to a depth of seven meters so that bigger vessels discharging at the main harbour would use the fishing harbour.

The Tema Fishing Harbour would also undertake a few capital projects this year and acquire two new mobile cranes by the end of this first quarter of the year to enhance its performance, he said.

Mr Jim-Fugar commended the workers for their hard work over the past year and advised them to improve upon it this year.