Fishing Canoes to be revamped with Fibreglass

Accra, June 18, GNA - The Ministry of Fisheries is in the process of revamping the fishing industry by retrofitting over 12,000 inshore boats with fibreglass.

The programme, aimed at ensuring safety at sea and sufficiency of fish catch to meet the demand of the consuming public, is to be executed by Fibroplast, an Indian boat building company.

Mrs. Gladys Asmah, Minister of Fisheries, who said this at a press briefing in Accra on Monday, said Fibroplast was chosen to execute the job because of its track record of rehabilitating over 10,000 boats destroyed by the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2005. "We need to revamp the fishing industry if we are to compete with the rest of the world in fishing," she said.

"We also need to be mindful of the rate of deforestation in our region and move away from the use of dugout wood for building canoes to what is being used in modern fleets, the fibreglass, in the building of our canoes," she added.

Mrs. Asmah said Ghana had the best fishermen in the sub-region and it was her belief that if the fishing industry in Ghana was revamped to compete with those of the other countries along the Gulf of Guinea, Ghanaian fishermen, who had migrated to Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and beyond would all come back to the country to help. "We are working at providing all the equipment needed to support the fishermen in terms of getting them new engines, sonar, eco-sounder, searchlights, safety jackets and all, to ensure safety at sea as well as encourage sustainable fishing to support our population," she said. Mrs. Asmah said when all the equipment arrived, a law to prevent fishermen from going to sea without a life jacket would be put in place to regulate the industry.

"No fisherman would be allowed to go to sea without a life jacket and the whole fishing industry would be looked at critically," she said. She said the Ministry was working at securing a credit facility to cushion the fishermen in the procurement of the new technological boats. Mrs Asmah said the Managing Director of Fibroplast, Mr Harish C. Narula, who had over 27 years reputation in the boat building industry, had already gone round the coastal areas to interact with the fishermen to get their specifications for building of fibreglass boats. "The move from canoe, to fibreglass would be gradual, since the Ministry is now negotiating with the Agricultural Development Bank for concessionary loans for the fishermen who are willing to order new ones and also for those who would refurbish their old boats.

"Fibroplast is willing to train some Ghanaians in the building and maintenance of the boat so that after the contract, Ghanaians could fully take over the maintenance," she said.

Mr. Narula said during his tour of the coastal fishing areas, he realised that there were variations in the size and depth of the boats and so care would be taken in conforming to the different variations. Mr. Joseph Nii Armah Quaye Chairman of the Fishermen's Association, thanked government for its concern about fishermen's welfare and pledged that if they were able to secure the refurbished boats, they would stay longer at sea to ensure that enough fish was caught for the consuming public.