Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Investigate allegations of closed fishing season flouting!!

Yesterday, brisk business activities resumed at the various landing sites in the country’s coastal belt, comprising the Volta, Greater Accra, Central, and Western regions.

After a month of lull in fishing activities, fishermen and fishmongers can now rise again and do what they know best as their way of fending for themselves and also contributing to the development of the country.

This means all those who make a living from the fishing value chain have the benefit of resuming their livelihoods.

The lifting of the one-month ban on fishing is a great opportunity for Ghanaians to have the option of choosing to enjoy ocean-fresh fish rather than getting pinned down to eating only frozen fish.

The Ghanaian Times appreciates all these good things associated with the lifting of the ban but wishes to call attention to a broad issue relating to the closed fishing season.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development annually demands compliance with the one-month closed season for a good purpose.

According to the Ministry, the annual temporary ban is a strategy to recover fish stock and allow for the regeneration of fish stock in the country’s waters.

Therefore, artisanal fishing activities in the country’s waters have to be suspended within the one-month period; hence, it comes as a sabotage of the noble objective of the ban when some fishermen flout it.

The issue the Ghanaian Times wants to talk about has to do with what the Volta Regional Chairman of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council (GNCFC), Mr. Doe Nkekeshie, has said.

According to him, the closed season did not achieve the fullness of its intended purpose because some fishermen ignored the ban and continued to engage in fishing activities during the season.

Mr. Nkekeshie has also alleged that some fishermen have simultaneously registered as members of the National Canoe Fishermen Council in Ghana and with other fishing associations in neighbouring Togo, explaining that such fishermen sneaked into Ghanaian waters during the closed season and engaged in illegal fishing activities.

This is heinous and must not be treated as business as usual, especially because such nation-wreckers escaped the lenses and the arrest of the marine police, who were believed to be patrolling the territorial waters of the country during the period.

The Ghanaian Times joins Mr. Nkekeshie in wondering why there was no arrest of these fishermen who engaged in acts he describes as “illegal” and prosecuted them to give full meaning to the closed fishing season practice.

We think Mr. Nkekeshie’s pronouncements must not be treated as mere allegations and dismissed.

Let the authorities investigate the allegations and bring the cul­prits, if any, to book to exemplify how serious the country is with the closed fishing season and also serve as a deterrent to prospec­tive offenders.

If it is true, then the crossing of fishermen from the Ada area in the Greater Accra Region into Volta Region waters to engage in illegal light-fishing during the closed season but escape arrest by marine police also needs heavy condemnation.

What do the Ada fishermen mean?

Do they want the world to believe that fishermen from the Volta Region are not law-abiding?