REJOINDER: CHALLENGES FACING FISHERIES SECTOR IN SHAMA

The attention of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) has been drawn to an article titled “Challenges facing fisheries sector in Shama” that was published on page 34 of the July 4, 2016 edition of the Daily Graphic and wishes to write a rejoinder to comment on some of issues raised in the article.

The Ministry is surprised that your esteemed paper has published an article without an author except that the article was culled from a USAID/UCC Fisheries and Coastal Management Capacity Building Support Project report.

The Ministry is even more surprised that your paper did not enquire if the report of the study has been validated by stakeholders’ before publishing excerpts of the report. It will interest the General Public to know that the Ministry has been collaborating with the University of Cape Coast in the implementation of the aforementioned project. However, the Ministry has neither seen a copy of the report nor participated in a stakeholders workshop to validate the findings of the report. As a major collaborator with the project, it is necessary and fair that the Ministry knows the content of the report before being put into public domain.

We acknowledge the fact that the University of Cape Coast is a research institution and is free to conduct independent research/study into a number of issues. However, such findings, as ethics demand, must first be validated by the relevant stakeholders before it is put out into the public domain.

The Ministry will take this opportunity to educate the General Public on the status of fisheries in Shama. Fishing activities engaged in Shama are dominated by Drift Gill Net, Ali Set Net, Lobster Set Net and Beach Seine. These types of fishing do not require light attraction (light fishing) and therefore it is contrary to the impression that the article had created that there is widespread use of light fishing in Shama.

Fish trade, processing and marketing are the work of the fish mongers (mummies). These fish mongers (mummies) also pre-finance the fishing trips. The practice at all fishing landing points is that these women take over the trading, processing and marketing of the fish. Some of these fish mongers are the wives of the fishermen. It is therefore not true that fishermen who use chemicals usually deliver the fish caught to their wives or pre-financiers. The practice in all fishing communities in Ghana is that women including wives of fishermen sell and process the fish

The Ministry is implementing programmes to reduce post harvest losses in the fisheries sector. One of such programme is the provision of cold store facilities in selected fishing communities. You may recall that in May 2016, H.E President John Mahama commissioned one of such coldstore facility in Shama. This is a cold store with a blast freezer, cold room and ice making plant. In addition, a refrigeration van has been allocated to the facility. Similar coldstores have been built at Prampram, Nyanyanoo, Kromatse, New Takoradi and Half Assini to reducepost harvest losses and improve handling of fish.

The Ministry has organized the women and formed the National Fish Processor and Traders Association. The women have been trained in fish handling and also introduced to improved smoking technology that is fuel (wood) efficient. All these measures have been put in place to reduce post harvest losses in the fisheries sector.

The fisheries law frowns on chemical fishing and all types of illegal fishing. The Ministry is doing everything possible to deter and prevent illegal fishing practices including use of chemicals. Thus, to conclude that fish of bad quality is usually smoked and sold in villages and the hinterland where the quality cannot be ascertained is really speculative.

The management of pre-mix has improved since the inauguration of a new National Pre-mix Committee in September 2015. The Ministry has put measures in place to prevent diversion of pre-mix fuel. Currently all trucks used for conveying pre-mix fuel are fitted with vehicle monitoring device.

Another measure taken by the Government to manage the pre-mix fuel is the recent registration and embossment of all canoes. This will form the data base that informs the National Premix Committee about the number of canoes and outboard motors at the various landing points so that enough fuel could be allocated to them.

Migration of Ghanaian fishermen to other West African countries to fish is normal and has nothing to do with non availability of premix fuel in Ghana. There are Ghanaian fishermen who have migrated and settled in Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. For instance, in Gambia, there is a town called Ghana Town and the inhabitants are Ghanaian fishermen that have migrated and settled in that country. Periodically, these fishermen come back home during their festivals.

The claim by the article that the Fisheries Enforcement Unit in Ghana is reportedly corrupt and usually inform fishermen who do not comply with the fishery regulations ahead of time about their enforcement activities a serious allegation which has to be substantiated. The Ministry is taking an exception view about the allegation and may seek legal redress if the allegation is not substantiated.

Some of the issues relating to fisheries are of national security in nature and if not handled with discretion may have far reaching implications on the economy of the country.

The Ministry will therefore appreciate that your paper publish the rejoinder as required by law.

 
SIGNED
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR (MOFAD)