Fisheries Minister bribing fisherfolk to back fishing ban – Jamestown Fishermen

A group of angry fishermen at Jamestown in Accra, calling itself Friends of Artisanal Fishermen, today, Friday, 20 July 2018 accused the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, of bribing some fishermen to support government’s one-month ban on fishing.

Members of the group staged a demonstration against the ban, arguing that the move was not the solution to the depletion of fish stock in the sea.

Spokesperson Nii Nettey-Nettey, told Class News on the sidelines of the demonstration that: “In our quest to do what we’re doing today, we gathered information all the way from the Volta Region to the Western Region and what we gather is that the minister has gone round inducing people with money and we had evidence at the Jamestown Landing Beach to attest to the fact that she was going round giving people money to agree with her to enforce what was illegal, what the people had not agreed to, what the people are going to suffer if today it is implemented, and there are people here who will attest to it.”

The fisherfolk said activities of artisanal fishermen cannot be the cause of the depletion of the fish stock.

Another fisherman who spoke to Class News, said: “If you go and select few individuals who will write a press statement and tell you that we are in support of it, that will be a total lie.”

The group wants government to implement the report of the Major Tackie Committee that investigated the depletion of Ghana's fish stock.

According to the fishermen, the report cited operations of Tuna vessels as a contributing factor to the problem.

Earlier, fisherfolk at Chorkor had accused the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) of inducing fishermen across the country to demonstrate against the ban.

They said they support the ban as part of the solution to the depletion of Ghana’s fish stock.