Ministers,MPs accused of illegal fishing

The National Executive Committee of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC) has decried the alarming rate at which some politicians and power brokers defend and shield fishermen who engage in illegal fishing.

According to the group, politicians who are fond of protecting these criminals include ministers of state of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) as well as Members of Parliament (MPs).

“Here we are talking about canoe fishermen who adopt illegal methods like Pair Trawling, Light Fishing, Use of Under-size Mesh Nets, Use of Monofilament or Rubber Nets in Marine Fishing, Use of Dynamite and other harmful chemicals in fishing to make bumper harvest. These are the kind of characters our politicians defend and protect,” stressed the Executive Secretary of the GNCFC, Nii Abeo Kyerekuandah IV.

He was addressing a press conference last Tuesday on the state of the country’s fishing industry and the enforcement of the fisheries regulations.

Though the GNCFC executive secretary could not mention names, he insisted that the practice undermines collaborative efforts in dealing with illegal fishing and its attendant challenges in the country.
Comparing what goes on in other countries, he stated that when one visits neighbouring countries like Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia Senegal, Angola, Mauritania among others, fisheries laws and regulations are rigidly enforced.

He said some of these bad fishing practices are totally outlawed or banned in these countries and culprits are made to face full rigours of the law.

“In these countries, the law is not given any human or political face. The law is allowed to work uninhibited. When you come to Ghana, it is the other side of the coin. Why can’t we do the same here in Ghana to save and protect the industry and make fishing a thriving business?”, the worried chief fisherman queried.
He further disclosed that “a few misguided, spineless, greedy and selfish canoe fishermen” who had nothing to do with fishing have jumped into the fray to fish.

“Most of these people are the same groups of people kicking against the enforcement of fishing regulations and are in the fishing business not as a vocation but an avocation — something extra they are doing to make money.

…Some of them are renowned businessmen and women with well-established businesses — some are also professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants and a host of others. These are the people who stand to lose nothing if our marine resources are ravaged or plundered and the sea is rendered barren. They will obviously not suffer because they are already well secured in their regular jobs and businesses,” Nii Abeo Kyerekuandah IV emphasized.

He continued that fishing, unlike farming, is a time-honoured indigenous vocation, which has been passed on from one generation to another and in conservative terms it is currently providing means of livelihood to about 10% of Ghana’s population.

In that direction, he stressed the need to give adequate attention, support and recognition to the fishing industry as well as the political will to punish perpetrators of illegal fishing.

“In the distant past, it did not strike anybody that there was any need to make laws to regulate fishing activities. Fish was there in abundance and conservation of fish was therefore not an issue. Today, however, thanks to bad fishing practices adopted by both industrial and some artisanal or canoe fishermen, the industry is now in serious crisis,” observed Nii Abeo Kyerekuandah IV.
In a remark, the General-Secretary of the GNCFC, Nii Gogo Obonantei, shockingly revealed that there are times when officials of the Ghana Navy and other sea patrol security officers arrest some of these criminals but the ministers and members of parliament believed to be power brokers who have fatty shares in those stinky deals intervene to release them.